I am Here
by Lookoutthewindow
Summary: 'A lone boy stands listlessly in front of a gravestone, his silent tears mixing with the rain.' AU. In which Kuroko Tetsuya really is a ghost, and Kagami is the only one who can see him. Of course, haunting ensues.
1. prologue

I am Here

'A lone boy stands listlessly in front of a gravestone, his silent tears mixing with the rain.' AU. In which Kuroko Tetsuya really is a ghost, and Kagami is the only one who can see him. Of course, haunting ensues.

* * *

prologue

* * *

'_There had been rumours surrounding the old outdoor basketball court in the far side of the park. At night, when the moon was up, sounds of a ball dribbling across the court, hitting the old, faded black square of the creaking backboard, and occasionally swishing through the threadbare net could be heard. They were the normal sounds of a person practicing street ball, and so people hadn't thought much of the occurrence, strange that it may be for someone to practice in the middle of the night. But, when you approached the dimly lit court, expecting to see someone there, your eyes would encounter nothing, and the sound would abruptly stop as the temperature dropped sharply. A cold breath would just touch the back of your neck, and as you turned around in surprise and terror, you would see nothing. But when you turned back again….'_

A soft, childish voice whispered into his ear. "Hey…let's play…"

Kagami screamed, his voice uncharacteristically high pitched and shrill. Izuki fell back clutching his stomach, unable to control his laughter at the sight of the team's ace curling up into the fetal position, shaking in fear. Hyuuga simply raised an eyebrow at the display, pretending the story hadn't affected him, but his heart was thumping loudly. Though he didn't want to admit it, that story had been freaking scary. And the way Izuki had delivered the last line had been bone chilling. Glancing at the other team members, he was secretly glad to note he wasn't the only one, the first years plus Tsuchida had all clustered together in a dog pile in their fear, Mitobe's expression was frozen in his face, and even the cheery Koga's smile seemed strained.

The only one who truly didn't seem to be affected was Riko (_actually, when had she gotten here?_), who looked thoughtfully at the laughing Izuki. "Yeah, I've heard that rumor too."

The team as a whole froze. Hyuuga stared in horror at her. "What? It's not just a story? What?"

The coach shook her head. "I suppose it could be considered an urban legend. Recently there've been stories of how you can hear a person playing basketball at the old park near Seirin, but no-one's ever been seen."

Hyuuga could begin to hear Kagami's teeth chattering.

Izuki wiped the tears of laughter from his face. "Don't worry, don't worry. It's probably just some shy kid practicing basketball who doesn't want to be seen. It makes for a good ghost story though."

Riko nodded emphatically. "Yeah….unless." Her thoughtful expression gave way to a threatening leer hidden by an angelic smile. "We wanna go check?"

Hyuuga could feel the shiver that went up the team's spine. "NOOOOO!"

"Then stop wasting time and get back to practice! Honestly, I expected you to be training hard when I got back, not exchanging horror stories! Three times the training, everyone!"

"YES MA'AM!"

* * *

Kagami groaned as he trudged back home, his legs feeling especially tender. He wasn't the weakest of the group, but today's training had wasted even him. He didn't even want to think about how the other first years were handling it. Yawning, he stretched his arms as he passed by a lit streetlight illuminating the dark alleyway.

_Thump….Thump._

Kagami stopped. That sound…that was the sound of a basketball. '_Someone must be practicing outside in the park at this late hour. Haa…brings back memories with Tatsuya.'_

_'Huh? This situation…sounds familiar.'_

The red headed teenager suddenly froze. His eye twitched as he slowly turned to stare horrified as his location. He was right next to the entrance of the park. _And on the other side was the old outdoor basketball court, where the child ghost played all alone, waiting for someone to come so he could play with them, so they could join him in his eternal unrest, so that he's never be lonely again…._

Kagami violently shook his head, trying vainly to stop his ever present teeth chattering. The ghost story hadn't been true. Not at all. Izuki himself had admitted so, there was NO GHOST in the old basketball court in the park. It was probably just a shy kid, like he'd said. Right. And since it was a real person, and not a ghost, it would be no problem at all to just calmly walk in, have a good look at the kid (to make sure he was very much alive) and walk out.

Because there was no such thing as ghosts. _(and he needed to firmly convince himself of this)_

With a shuddering, bracing breath, he took his first step into the park.

* * *

It was empty.

The court was freaking empty.

Kagami felt his mouth form a strained grin as his eye twitched. Taking deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down. '_Just because I can't see anyone doesn't mean they're not there, the kid's probably hiding or something.'_

"Hello…? Is there…anyone there?" He couldn't help but notice his voice had broken at the end.

A sigh, too loud to be from the wind.

Kagami whipped around, his eyes are large as golf balls, but there was nothing. Feeling his knees beginning to shake, he bolted for the gate. '_Screw this, I don't need to prove myself. I don't care whether this is a real ghost or a prank, I'm outta here. Pride? What pride?'_

He only made it four steps before he found himself falling.

_'Eh?'_

Picking himself off the floor, ignoring the graze on the elbows, the red head turned to stare behind him. What had he tripped over?

"…Ow…"

Kagami let out another unmanly squeak as he scrambled backwards on his hands and knees, unable to take his eyes off the...the…ghost?

Where there had been empty space before was a pale boy crouching on one knee, one hand massaging a small bump on the side of his light blue haired head. He was dressed in some kind of white school uniform, muddied at the elbows and knees with the tie loosened. A lone basketball rolled listlessly next to him. Kagami felt the breath leave his lungs as the figure slowly turned to face him and stare unwaveringly with expressionless, unreadable ice blue eyes.

They stared in silence for a while, Kagami being unable to inhale the breath needed for another scream, before the ice blue eyes blinked. A soft, monotone voice tinged with surprise left his lips. "You..can..touch me? You can see me?" He staggered to his feet, swaying for a bit before stepping towards the fallen redhead.

It was only until Kagami noticed the basketball had rolled towards the boy's feet, and hadn't stopped rolling until it had rolled straight through the blue haired boy's leg, that he managed to regain the energy to jump to his feet and hightail it out of there, not once looking back.


	2. chapter one: i was bored

chapter one: I was bored

* * *

It was just a dream.

That whole encounter had been nothing but something his overactive imagination had cooked up after Izuki's gloriously horrifying story. After the practice, he had gone straight home, showered and fallen into a deep sleep, and his memory had just muddled reality with dreams after he had woken up, dazed, in the morning. That MUST have been what had happened, no doubt about it. After all, ghosts didn't truly exist…right?

Even so, that morning he took the longer route to school, the one that didn't pass by the park. And though ultimately he was late (due to getting lost, having his path crossed by a terrifying chihuahua out for his blood, and then helping a old lady across the road), not one part of him regretted his decision.

Although…

Facedown on his desk with his arms covering his head in a tired gesture, Kagami groaned. It was way too early in the morning to get another detention. And if it clashed with training (like it had last week), then he would get killed by the coach, or at least traumatisingly maimed.

"Tough day today?"

Kagami sighed and raised his head. "Yeah…woke up from some crazy dream and then had a horrible morning, I don't know if I ca-"

He froze as he opened his eyes to see a pair of ice blue staring back.

_Eh?_

The blue haired boy tilted his head in greeting. "Good morning, Kagami-kun."

_Realisation in 3…2…1…_

"GAAHHHHHHH!"

* * *

The classroom as a whole jumped as the door was violently slammed openwith a shuddering bang. A demon wearing the skin of a second-year girl stalked into the room, searching for her prey.

"_..Ka…ga…mi…..I heard you managed to get detention today~"_

The classroom inhabitants flinched and shuffled to allow the girl and her ominous dark aura to pass through to Kagami's desk.

"_You aren't going to let this interfere with training…ri-"_

Riko Aida stopped and blinked at the sight of sight before her. The basketball team ace lay shaking on his side in the fetal position, with his broken desk lying face down beside him.

"Eh? Kagami-kun?" She turned to the nearest classmate. "What happened here?"

The boy flinched before realizing her terrifying aura had disappeared. "We're not too sure. He suddenly screamed "Gyah~" like a little girl, flipped his table, fell backwards from his chair and used the momentum to curl himself into a ball. He's been like that for the last three minutes." He turned back to stare appraisingly at his red headed classmate. "I must say, it was an impressive display of speed."

Riko simply twitched her eye. Stepping gingerly over the shattered desk, she nudged the quivering human mess with her foot. "Kagami-kun, seriously, what's wrong?"

The red head turned his head to look up at her with his teary eyes. "Can't…can't you see it, coach?"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "See what?"

Kagami raised a shaky arm to point straight in front of him. "Him…can't anyone see him?"

She turned her head to look, before letting out an angry sigh and kicking the fallen boy in the knee. "Either you're head wasn't screwed on properly this morning, or you're trying to mess with me. Either way you need a good pounding."Riko glared at him threateningly.

"There's no one there, Ba-Kagami. You're pointing at empty space."

* * *

Kagami stared desolately at his huge lunch as he sat against the wall on the top of the school roof. For the first time in his life, he did not feel like eating.

'_What do I do in this kind of situation? How do I deal with…this?'_

"Are you really going to eat all of that?"

'_Maybe if I keep on ignoring him, he'll grow bored and go away. He can't keep this up, right?'_

"Hey, don't ignore me."

'_I can't see you~ I can't hear you~ There is no ghost…all there is in front of me is air~'_

"I know you can see me, Kagami-kun. Stop pretending I'm air."

"_How did he know my name? Don't tell me he's been stalking me. Uh…no. Ignore him. Air~ Its just air~ Now go and fly away from me like the air particles you are.'_

"Your name's pretty boldly labelled on your school bag, I haven't been stalking you."

'_Holy shit he can read minds.'_

"And no, I can't. It's just really easily to see what you're thinking about from your facial expressions."

Kagami felt his eye twitch. In a sudden movement, he shoved the large pile of hamburgers (aka lunch) to the side and flung himself to the floor into the dogeza position. With tears of desperation streaming down his face, he looked up to finally acknowledge the presence of the blue haired boy before him.

"Please, I'm begging you, stop haunting me, Mr Ghost. I'm really sorry I disturbed you at the park yesterday." He slammed his forehead to the ground. "Please forgive me! Please don't kill me!"

He waited in fearful anticipation before he felt a painful flick to the crown of his head. "Ow…what-" He looked up to see the expressionless stare of the ghost alarmingly close. The eyes blinked. An unintelligible sound escaped his lips as he scuttled backwards like a crab.

The blue haired boy remained in his crouched position as he observed the terrified (and at this point, rather pathetic) protagonist a little longer. "Kagami-kun, I think there's something you need to understand: I'm not a scary ghost."

"You're a ghost! What part of that is not scary?"

The aforementioned ghost got to his feet, dusting his knees as he did so. "Actually, maybe you do understand."

"Huh?"

"Think about it, if you really were so terrified of me, you wouldn't be having this conversation with me in the first place. You would've just hightailed it out of here like last time."

'_Maybe I should do that again-'_

"And no, you can't. I locked the roof door."

'_!'_

The ghost-boy began to levitate gently into a comfortable sitting position. "The second thing I think you should understand, is that I'm not haunting you."

"You're following me everywhere, what part of that is not haunting?"

The boy cocked his head. "Well, I'm not haunting you for malicious reasons then."

Kagami felt his eye twitch again. That would need some really convincing explanations to disprove. "Then…why?"

The ghost did a slow flip in the air until he hung upside down, Kagami noticed that neither his tie nor hair seemed to fall downwards – gravity had no real effect on him at all. "Well…to put it simply…I was bored."

'_Hah?'_

Kagami felt a vein pop as he leapt to his feet and pointed an accusing figure at the floating boy before him. "You decided to bother me all morning and scare off about 30 years of my lifespan just because you were _bored?_"

The ghost scratched his head. "That sounds really bad, maybe I should rephrase. It'll be better to say that Iwas…lonely."

Kagami blinked as the usually emotionally blank face of the ghost turned slightly melancholy. "My first memory was waking up to find myself lying down in the middle of a basketball court. It was daytime. I was alone, and when I pulled myself up to find other people and figure out where I was, I realised that no-one could see me."

The boy floated gently downwards until he stood on the ground. Kagami realised for the first time how small he looked. Had he been a middle schooler?

"I called out to anyone and everyone, but they all ignored me. I tried to grab their arms, sometimes even tackle them, but I always passed right through them. You can imagine how distressing it must be for a memory-less person to realise that to the rest of the world, they don't exist."

The sun peaked from behind a cloud, and began to shine in earnest at the two boys. Only one of them cast a shadow.

"I don't know how much time has passed by then. Some nights I go to the park nearby and play basketball by myself – maybe it was something I enjoyed as a living person, but it's quite fun." He turned to look at the taller boy. "And then you came. You're the first person, ever, that can see me, hear me, and the only person I've ever been able to interact with."He cocked his head. "It's quite exciting."

'_You sure don't look excited. Your facial expressions never change, are they frozen or something?'_

"It's a personality quirk."

'_!'_

"Well, that's my story, I suppose. I've just…wanted to talk to someone for so long…I guess. I wanted proof…that I really existed."

An awkward silence descended between the two. Kagami scratched his head. "Now that you say it like that, I'd feel really bad asking you to leave-"

"Then don't." The ghost-boy stuck out a hand. "Let's be friends, Kagami-kun."

"Eh? Hey! Don't decide so easily!"

"Will you really leave me like this?" The boy's usually deadpan eyes suddenly took on a puppydog-like shine.

"Don't look at me like that! And was that story even true? It sounds more and more like some ploy to get me to agree with you now!"

"How rude. I just told you my entire life story, and this is what you think of it? I promise, it's 100% true. But, yes, I may be using it for my purposes."

"Geh!"Kagami made the mistake of looking too long at the glistening, shining blue puppy eyes. "…fine."

The edge of the ghost boy's mouth seemed to rise to a smug smile, but it was difficult to make out. He stuck out his hand again. "Nice to meet you, Kagami Taiga-kun. My name is Kuroko Tetsuya."

Kagami reluctantly reached out to grasp the smaller hand in a brief handshake. It was cold, as he had half expected. "…Wait a minute. Didn't you just say you don't have any memories?"

"Yes, I did."

"Then…"

"It was sewed onto the tag of my blazer." The boy reached back to pull it up from behind his neck. "See?"

'Ah.."

"By the way, there's something I've been wanting to ask."

"What?"

Kuroko pointed at the now forgotten magnificently large pile of hamburgers near the roof door. "Is that really all your lunch? Were you seriously planning on eating all of it?"

"Yeah."

"Can a single person really consume that much food? Are you some kind of monster?"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't want to hear that from an actual monster, thank you very much."

* * *

Hyuuga stared out the window at the strange scene at the top of the roof, the box of basketball game recordings ordered by Riko forgotten in his arms. _'What on earth is Kagami doing by himself?'_

* * *

_A/N: _Short chapter, yeah. I'm not good with long chapters, so most of them will be this long, I guess, sorry. Review, please?


	3. chapter two: i'm home

I am Here:

A/N: I've edited the prologue a bit, you might want to read it again, but if you don't, all I've done is removed Kiyoshi from it. I've finally finalised when exactly in the canon this story is based in. At least I think so.

* * *

chapter two: i'm home

* * *

Kagami felt his stomach growl as he trudged through his front door. Sighing, he leaned heavily against the wall as he slipped off his school shoes and stepped into his home. Today had been a nightmare. First off he had been confronted and then coerced into letting a ghost (A ghost. A GHOST. What was happening with his LIFE?) be his 'friend' (at this point in time, it seemed more like a bully-victim relationship. Where was his backbone?), and then the coach has decided that his detention shouldn't affect his training time in anyway whatsoever, and therefore forced him to stay behind longer than the rest of the team to make for the time lost.

Which would usually be okay, after all, he loved basketball more than anything else, and staying behind to improve his skills didn't seem so bad.

The problem was that the aforementioned ghost had decided to stick with him all day.

While the rest of the class had been listening to the teacher and studying quietly, Kagami had to deal with the antics of a curious boy-ghost invisible to all but him. After the meeting/confrontation on the roof, Kuroko had spent the rest of the school hours checking out every inch of the classroom, commenting out loud his blunt and honest observations as he did so. Try as he did, Kagami hadn't managed to completely ignore him, and developed a somewhat permanent twitch on his left eye, and well as managing to remember almost nothing he had learnt that day. It eventually cumulated into the red-headed protagonist snapping his pencil in half with one hand during the last period, unable to contain his shaking laughter at one monotonous comment involving the teacher's inherent baldness and the cleverly designed wig he wore to hide it.

He had come very close to another detention at that point.

After that had been absolute hell. The annoying ghost had decided to also follow him to basketball practice, where his curiosity and desire to meddle increased tenfold. It was hard to determine with Kuroko's expressionless face, but when the school gym had come into view, and the sounds of basketballs dribbling across the court and hitting the backboard reached the two, a somewhat excited look had shone on his face, and the ghost had proceeded to quickly float towards it, phasing through the walls.

Kagami had secretly hoped that would be the last he would see of him, but to no avail. When he had opened the doors into the indoor court, his heart had almost stopped at the sight of Kuroko somewhat happily dribbling a ball by himself in the corner.

Strangely enough the rest of the team didn't seem to notice the presence of a lone ball bouncing by itself in the desolate corner, too occupied with their practice games and training, and Kagami had breathed a sigh of relief.

If only that had been the last of his problems.

He hadn't been able to concentrate on practice at all that day, and the coach had made him pay heavily for it (20 laps…T.T). As much as he lived and breathed basketball, his shots and passes began to miss with increasing frequency as he found it harder and harder to ignore the ghost always floating around in his peripheral vision, dribbling across the empty court on the other side of the gym and using his ability of levitation to cheat and perform dunks_. 'How are the senpais not noticing this? Seriously.'_

Even now, lying on his back on the floor of his living room in exhaustion, he still remembered the terrifying visage of Coach Riko's widening smile that promised many laps and muscle pain.

Beside him, the root of all his problems began to somehow simultaneously walk and float about the room, taking in all the sights with his expressionless eyes.

"Wow, Kagami-kun. Your place is pretty nice and large, much better than I expected it to be."

'_What's with that casual insult?'_

Kuroko did a lazy somersault in the air as he enjoyed the view out the sliding window door that lead out to the balcony. The city lights were all alight, and made an erratic and colourful image of fake stars.

"No-one's here, do you live alone?"

"Uh, yeah. My dad was supposed to live with me, but he got called off to work."

"So you're fortunate enough to live alone in a large, expensive place. That really pisses me off for some reason."

'_You're really blunt, aren't you.'_

Sighing, Kagami slowly got to his feet. Stretching in a way reminiscent of a cat, he yawned before turning to glare pointedly at the currently upside down ghost levitating in the middle of his living room. "What was up with you today anyway? Does your concentration span only last three seconds? You were literally flying everywhere constantly!" He massaged his forehead as a particularly painful memory of a basketball slamming into his face due to loss of concentration on his part resurfaced. "I seriously couldn't concentrate on anything today due to you whizzing about everywhere and playing basketball _right next to a group of people who are perfectly capable of turning their heads to see a ball bouncing by itself._"

Kuroko frowned defensively. "But they didn't. I made sure that the only one who ever saw the ball moving was you, Kagami-kun."

'_Why does that sound like he was distracting me on purpose? Is he some kind of natural sadist?'_

"Besides, it's the first time I've ever been to a school. Naturally, I got a little excited."

Kagami blinked. "You've never explored a school before? I thought as a ghost you'd go exploring everything or something like that. I mean, you can go through walls and fly – there's nothing stopping you."

Kuroko shook his head. "Before I met Kagami-kun, I've only been able to venture about 300m from the park. Every time I tried to go further, it was like I got pulled back by some unknown force." He cocked his head to the side with a frown. "It literally feels like someone is pulling you by the cuff of your neck."

"And now those restrictions no longer affect you?"

The ghost scratched his head thoughtfully. "Now I'm able to explore within a circle of radius 800m with you as its centre. I think. I'm not too sure. I've been too busy exploring everything to have a proper look at my limits. "

'_Yeah, I noticed.'_

Kagami blinked. _'Ah…that's right, I just remembered something I wanted to know.'_ An unpleasant frown appeared on his face as he pondered his next question. _'I really don't want to ask him…but I'm curious.'_

"So then…as a ghost, what is the extent of your powers?"

"Hmm…" Kuroko did another flip before floating down to sit comfortably on the sofa. "Well, I can levitate and fly pretty easily to any height as long as I'm within the 300m limits- well I suppose it's expanded to 800m now. Also, generally I just phase through things, but if I concentrate hard enough, I can touch things. It takes a lot of concentration though, and I can generally only do it for seconds unless I practice." He began to slowly sink through the sofa until only his head was visible. "See?"

Kagami quickly turned his head to avoid the somewhat disturbing sight of the blue haired boy's seemingly decapitated head. "You were handling that basketball pretty easily before though."

"Well, like I said – I practiced. I'm currently only good with basketballs and books though. There was this old bookstore near the park I usually visited, but there were only a few books, and the selection was limited. And I stole a ball from a few kids who came to play one day."

'_What a criminal.'_

"And…" Kuroko's face crunched up slightly in concentration. Kagami raised an eyebrow, but then yelped as he felt his school bag slowly float towards the ceiling. A disbelieving look on his face, he turned to stare at the ghost.

"I can levitate things. It's harder than touching things though, but sometimes I can do it really well."

"Sometimes?"

"When I get really angry, or happy, or sad, I guess. Emotions help."

'_Hearing that from a face that never changes expression is kind of jarring.'_

"Hm…" Kuroko floated back up from the sofa and began moving towards the corridor and doors. "It's the first time I've been in someone's home. It's somewhat exciting."

Kagami glared at him. "Don't go exploring everything like some attention deficit monkey like you did in school. Stay her- HEY!"

The ghost ignored him and phased through the wall. His voice could still be heard through the poorly sound proofed walls however. "Wow, I suspected it before, but it's really true. Kagami-kun really is a basketball idiot."

Kagami blanched, quickly strode over and slammed open the door to his room, where the Kuroko floated, admiring the countless number of basketball posters in his rooms. A vein popping in his forehead, he placed one hand on the boy's head and pushed him down in a motion similar to a slam dunk.

"DON'T GO CASUALLY INVADING PEOPLE'S PRIVACY!"

* * *

The red headed boy sighed as he left the bathroom in fresh clothes and a tower around his neck, his hair still wet from the relaxing shower. Finally his body felt alive again from the death penalty of 'extra training' Coach Riko had given him.

It was no time to relax though. Despite his orders to Kuroko: 'don't levitate anything, don't touch anything, don't go through my stuff, and most importantly don't freak me out in the bathroom, I might actually slip and fall and die,' he doubted the ghost had bothered to follow them diligently.

He just hoped his room was still in one piece by the time he got there.

Slowly, cautiously, he turned the doorknob, swung the door open and peered inside. Nothing levitating? Check. Everything still in place? Check. No defacement of his posters? Check. But…

Kagami blinked. There was no sign of the light-blue haired boy anywhere. Raising an eyebrow as he dried his hair in one hand, he shrugged and stepped towards his desk. What would he know of the strange ghost's thought patterns; he had probably gotten bored and went out to explore the other rooms. Covering a tired yawn with a forearm, he reached towards the two necklaces left haphazardly on his desk after he'd taken them off to have his shower; the chain carrying the treasured ring given by Tatsuya, and the small, plain fish-shaped wooden lucky charm he'd been coerced into buying by an insistent market stall-owner a week ago. It was shaped like an ugly flounder with beady eyes, and looked uglier the more he looked at it. But well…good luck is good luck. He turned to sit on his bed as he reached up to attach them around his neck.

"…What are you doing, Kagami-kun?"

'_Eh?'_

"Please don't do that, you'll crush my legs."

An indescribable scream escaped the red head's lips and he threw himself off the bed and rolled across the floor before coming to a painful stop with the help of the bedroom wall. A somewhat surprised Kuroko comfortably sat cross-legged on the area of the bed where Kagami had been just about to sit down.

A vein popped on Kagami's forehead as he pointed accusingly at the ghost. "Don't scare me like that! And if you didn't want me to sit on you then don't sit there in the first place!"

Kuroko cocked his head, confused. "I've been here the whole time, Kagami-kun."

"'_I've been here the whole time, Kagami-kun'_ my ass! You clearly weren't in the room when I entered, do I look blind to you or something?"

A small thoughtful frown appeared on the blue-haired ghost's lips. "I'm telling the truth, Kagami-kun. I really have been here the entire time."

Kagami let go of the two necklaces in his hand to massage the sore spot where his forehead had met the wall. "Don't joke arou-Eh?"

The boy blinked. Where there had been the annoying sight of a blue-headed boy sitting on the bed before, was now nothing. He stared in silence at the sudden disappearance, before slowly looking down at the two necklaces lying innocently on the ground before him.

'…_Wait a minute…'_

Gingerly, he picked up the chain holding Tatsuya's gift with his thumb and forefinger, and looked up at the bed.

Nothing.

Carefully placing the ring and chain to the side, he stared suspiciously at the remaining wooden charm, before slowly reaching out to pick it up like he did with the other necklace.

"-kun, Kagami-kun, what are you doing?"

Kagami twitched, and let go of the necklace. The boy disappeared again, along with his voice. Thoughtfully he stared at the wooden charm once more, before a vein popped on his forehead and he abruptly stood up, grabbing the charm as he did so.

"IT WAS THISSSS!"

Ignoring the blue-headed boy who had suddenly appeared beside him, he wrenched open the bedroom window, preparing to hurl it out, before he was promptly tackled to the ground.

"GAH! Get off me!" Kagami struggled under the weight of the ghost quite calmly sitting on his back and putting his neck in a choke hold. In fact the weight was much too large to belong to a single vertically challenged student boy. _(Note: This is simply the biased view of a ridiculously tall high school student. Kuroko is actually within the normal range)_ _'That bastard, he's using his freaky ghost powers to increase the force.'_

"No. Then Kagami-kun will throw the charm away."

'_I'm such an idiot, what am I doing? I can just let go of the charm right now.'_ Kagami released his hold on the offensive object and let it fall to the floor. Immediately his hold was released, and the red-haired boy leapt to his feet, turning around to see, as he had suspected, not even a sign of the other boy's presence.

Letting out a breath of relief, he massaged his sore neck with one hand as he considered the charm lying innocently on the floor. _'Maybe I should use tweezers or chopsticks or something…'_

The room suddenly shook.

Kagami blinked. _'An earthquake?'_

It was then, that Kagami experienced possibly the most frightening moment of his entire life.

The lights suddenly began to flicker on and off with increasing frequency before coming to a stop with an ominous click as the room was plunged into darkness. The red head felt his mouth dry and heart rate increase as he backed to the wall.

The window behind him slammed shut. Kagami jumped, but did not dare to turn around, because…

Well, because everything in his room save for his bed and desk had begun to levitate.

A single whimper left his lips, and he fell backwards on his rear as his legs finally failed to support his weight in their terror. His wide, horrified eyes couldn't tear themselves away from the sight of his red marker uncapping itself mid-air, and hovering towards the wall opposite him.

Slowly, red words began to write themselves.

"_Don't"_

"_Throw"_

"_It"_

"_Away"_

Instantly, the levitating objects dropped to the floor, and the lights flickered back on. The only proof of whatever had happened during the last few seconds were the uncapped red marker pen lying on the ground, Kagami's thundering heart, and the red words written in a shaky hand on the wall.

The red headed boy slowly blew out the breath he had been holding, and began trying to regain his wits. Shamefully, he wiped away the small traces of tears in his eyes, and cleared his throat. Standing up on his jelly-like legs, he slowly walked towards the small ugly flounder shaped wooden charm lying on the ground, and gingerly picked it up. Hesitantly, he considered the small object in his hand, before carefully untying the clasp and attaching it around his neck.

It only after that, that he turned to regard the small blue haired boy curled up with his arms around his legs leaning against the bedroom door, his face hidden in his arms.

"…I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." His voice was muffled and quiet.

Kagami sighed and walked towards the somewhat depressing figure, letting his back slide down the wall as he sat down next to him. "I honestly have no words for how terrifying that was."

"I'm sorry."

"I think my most likely cause of death might be cardiac arrest at this rate."

"I'm sorry."

"Nah…I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have tried to throw it out. It would've been a cruel thing to do. It was irrational and…selfish of me. I wasn't really thinking properly."

There was a brief silence. Kagami twiddled with his thumbs, before his companion spoke again.

"I…panicked."

Kuroko raised his head, but his bangs hid his eyes. "I didn't want to be alone again."

Kagami rubbed his forehead, before laying a hand on the blue haired head and ruffling the soft spikes.

"Yeah, I know…By the way, that wasn't the permanent marker, was it?"

"…"

The hand on Kuroko's head tightened considerably. "Oi…"

* * *

Kagami stared irritated at the words written in red marker on the white wallpaper of his room, a rag in one hand and a bottle of acetone in the other. He had spent the last two hours trying to remove them, and had only succeeded in smudging them to somehow make them look even more horrifying.

'_Why is it slowly looking more and more like smeared blood…'_

Sighing, he threw the rag into the laundry hamper and placed the bottle on his desk. '_Maybe I should cover it with a picture or a poster…seriously, why am I the one cleaning this up? The culprit himself hasn't shown up-'_

Kagami scratched his head in silence. Ever since the conversation last night after his attempt to throw the charm away, the ghost boy had begun to avoid him, though he still stayed in the apartment. It was just small things like making sure they weren't in the same room in the same time, and keeping out of sight, but it was still a jarring difference from the invasive and unstoppable curiosity from yesterday. _'Makes me wonder what's bothering him so much.'_

Surely his words couldn't have affected him that much?

"_It's just, now that we know that this charm is why I can see you, doesn't it open a lot more options?"_

"…_What do you mean?"_

_Kagami shrugged, "I don't know…it's just, wouldn't you be better off if I gave this charm to someone like a monk, or supernatural expert? They'd know what to do…" Kuroko suddenly turned to look at him intently. "to er…help you…move…on?"_

_The ghost blinked at him, his expression unreadable as always._

"_That is, what you want, right? I mean, isn't that what all ghosts want, generally…unless of course you're a malicious ghost who's just here to drag me down to hell...I'll just shut up now."_

_The bluehead turned away, his fingers slowly beginning to fidget. "…Not really…not yet."_

"…_please don't tell me you really are a malicious-"_

"_I'm not, idiot."_

_Kuroko lifted his head to rest it against the wall. "It's just…I have no memories, and very few experiences outside the park. I want to make some more memories before…before I leave…I guess. I'd feel cheated if I left without finding out what school was like, what a home feels like, what having a friend feels like. I haven't played basketball against another person yet either. I want to make more memories."_

"…_And gain back the ones you've lost, right?"_

"…_.yeah…I-I guess."_

_Kagami frowned. 'What's with that feeble answer?' He sighed, running his hand through his still wet hair. _

"_But…it doesn't have to be specifically me, does it."_

_Kuroko blinked, and turned to stare at him. "What?"_

"_Anyone in contact with this weird flounder charm can see you, hear you, touch you, and the charm also allows you to move a larger range of area." He reached behind his neck to unclasp it from his neck and held it out to the blue haired boy beside him. "For all of those memories you want to occur, you need the charm, and anyone to be in contact with it. But not specifically me."_

_Kuroko stared at him with his expressionless eyes. "You don't want it?"_

_Kagami turned away. "…It's not that I dislike you or anything…it's just…I don't think I can handle this."_

_An awkward silence descended upon the two. Kagami did not dare to look back at the ghost, and his arm began to strain from the awkward position, waiting for Kuroko to take it from him. _

_He never did. When the red head turned back to look, the ghost was gone, the charm in his hand untouched._

Kagami covered his face with one hand. Well, he had just ultimately rejected the bold offer of friendship presented to him at the top of the rooftop the other day, and…

'_Well, I suppose no matter how short the time spent was, it always hurts to lose a friend.'_

The red head stared at the horrifying remnant of Kuroko's 'red marker funtime', before sighing. Grabbing the tissue box, he pulled out a few sheets before reaching behind his neck to unclasp the string of the ugly flounder charm. He considered it briefly in his hand, studying the strange designs and charms written upon it, before laying it on the tissues and wrapping it. Stuffing his keys and wallet into his pocket, he carefully placed the makeshift tissue bag into an envelope and slipped it securely into a back pocket.

'_Like this, I'll never be able to see Kuroko again, I guess. It's sad for our last encounter to have ended like that, but…this needs to be done.'_

He strode into the corridor and into the living room, where the television quietly murmured the morning show. _"Today's Oh Asa horoscope reveals an unlucky day for Leos! It's best to stay in and weather out the storm, but if you really have to go out today, don't forget your lucky charm!"_

'_I never turned it on…must've been Kuroko.' _ Sighing, he turned it off with the remote, checked nothing was amiss with the rest of the house, then finally walked out the apartment and locked the door.

If the charm had still been around his neck, he might have noticed the figure of a small, blue haired boy standing somewhat sadly beside him.

* * *

'_First stop is the market where I got the charm, I guess. What kind of person sells these kinds of things anyway? I knew something was wrong when he offered to sell it to me for a quarter of the original price…'_

Kagami grumbled his way up through the throng of people in the streets of the shopping district. _'So many people today…maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go on a Saturday…'_

"Watch out!' Kagami started and looked up for the sudden voice from above, only to see a flowerpot hurtling straight down towards him. _'What?'_ His body froze in shock, before his brain finally caught up, forcing his body to move, to run.

A millionth of a second later, the flowerpot shattered down behind his feet, the shards narrowly missing his legs. A woman from the 3rd floor balcony above screamed. _'It's alright,' _he wanted to tell her,_ 'I'm fine, no-one's hurt. Your flowerpot didn't kill anyone.'_

Minutes later, she was bowing repeatedly to him in apology, having barrelled down the stairs, but Kagami waved them away. He was perfectly fine. In fact, too perfectly fine. _'I'm sure I moved too late to avoid the pot. Did I get faster? And how is it possible that none of the shards hit me? I was less than half a metre away from the impact.'_

Around him, murmurs of conversation could be heard.

"Wow! That was really close!"

"Is he alright?"

"That guy was really lucky."

"By the way, is it just me, or did that pot just…hover for a moment?"

"Eh?"

A blue haired boy wiped his forehead in the corner, invisible to all.

* * *

Kagami looked in delayed surprise at the stall-owner. The old man's eye twitched under the ceaseless stare of the shocked redhead.

"What is it, kid? Do I have something on my face?"

Kagami blinked, before scratching his head with an awkward laugh. "Ahahaha…um…it's just, I came to this stall before and bought something, but it seems today the person behind the stall is different. Do you have part-time workers helping you out?"

The old man frowned in confusion. "No, I tend to this stall alone. You sure you haven't confused it with another stall?"

"No…I'm very sure it was this one. You sure? The guy behind the counter I met that day was this high, had somewhat short hair, and wore a cap and sunglasses. Kind of good looking. You sure you don't know?"

"That's a really crap description – actually that person sounds really suspicious now, what kind of person wears a cap and shades in broad daylight?"

"Huh? I thought he looked cool."

The old man just stared at him with an expression that implied he was an idiot, before sighing angrily. "Anyway, I'm very positive I don't know him. Now shoo! I need customers, not brats bothering me about nothing!"

Kagami felt his eye twitch. _'Don't harm the nice old man, Kagami, don't harm the nice old man.' _Suddenly he blinked with realisation.

"Ah, wait!" Kagami removed the envelope from his back pocket, pulling out and unwrapping the tissue to reveal the wooden charm within, taking care not to directly touch any part of it. "This is what I bought, from him, from this stall. This was one of your wares, right?"

The old man sighed in annoyance, but he peered carefully at the wooden flounder charm anyway, before shaking his head. "Never seen it before. And I wouldn't sell such an ugly thing anyway."

Kagami's shoulders drooped. "Ah…I see, um, thanks."

The disgruntled old man made a shooing gesture with his hands, and so the red head left with a small bow.

* * *

'_So…a mysterious charm from an unknown source…charming...oh god I'm turning into Izuki-senpai.'_ He sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets and began strolling through the alleyways. _'I suppose the next stop would be the shrine…'_

"Arf! Arf!"

'_Arf? Huh?'_

Kagami stiffened. A lone terrier suddenly leapt out from the bushes and padded up towards him, tail wagging.

'_Ca-ca-calm down, Kagami. It's just one dog, if you just manage to get past it and then run for your life, you'll be fine.'_ Taking a deep breath, he cautiously began to edge around the happy puppy, not daring to lose eye-contact. _'Nearly there…'_

"Woof! Woof! Grrr…."

'_Eh?'_

Kagami forced himself to turn his head, already fearing what he was going to find. _'Don't tell me…'_

His breath escaped his lips in a whoosh, and he felt himself begin to shake. Before him stood a legion of around twenty neighbourhood dogs, ranging from the smallest breeds of Chihuahua to the great black Doberman growling fiercely at him.

'_Oh god no.'_

His legs were frozen to the ground, and his muscles refused to move. It was only until the great black beast took another step forward that his legs managed an attempt to step backwards, only for him to lose his footing and fall to the ground. His eyes widened as the Doberman leapt towards him and he instinctively covered his head with his arms. For an instant he felt the hot breath of the dog on his forearms, before-

Kagami blinked as he heard a high pitched whine, and looked up. All the dogs were suddenly whining and whimpering, their tails tucked beneath their legs. They lingered for a moment longer, before scampering away.

The redhead blinked, and slowly got to his feet.

'…_What was that?'_

* * *

The latest LCD television screen displayed in the high tech electronics store was unapologetically loud as it broadcasted reruns of the morning's horoscope show. Kagami walked quickly past it, wincing for the sake of his ears. Oh Asa's voice blared behind him as he walked away.

"Remember, today's a danger day for Leos! It's essential for you to have your lucky item with you today!

Don't forget! Today's lucky item for Leos is a good friend!"

* * *

Though he did say that technically he could give the necklace to anyone to kept Kuroko company, it felt too careless and cheap to randomly leave the charm somewhere obvious where anyone could find it, like on the sidewalk. That was why Kagami had decided to leave the charm at the local shrine, where either someone well versed in handling ghosts would find it, or at least someone who would care enough to be Kuroko's friend until his 'passing'. It was just a gut instinct, but he'd felt that if he left it at a shrine, a good person would pick it up.

The nearest shrine from Kagami's home was too far to walk to, and he was left with no choice but to use the underground subway. The time was nearing 1pm, and the redhead shivered at the thought of encountering 'Japanese Lunch Time Rush' once more. Once he caught sight of the main street, however, he realised it was too late.

'Japanese Lunch Time Rush' was here.

The crowd of people pushed against him as he struggled to get to the stairs that lead to the underground station.

'_I can't help but think Japan is amazing at times like these, I have the build of a basketball player and I'm still getting pushed around like a ragdoll…'_

Finally, he caught sight of the top of the stairs, and seeing, his chance, he made his way towards them, not looking carefully at where he was stepping.

If he had, he might have caught sight of the lone cola can that slipped under his foot, and avoided it wisely.

Kagami blinked as he suddenly found himself hurtling down the flight of stairs, down to his impending doom.

'_What? Huh? Eh?!'_

If he had enough time and breath, he might have cussed, but he only had the time to follow his instinct to cover his head and neck, and hope to any divine powers that he would survive this, and preferably not break anything essential.

Kagami closed his eyes in anticipation, his heart thundering away, for the impact that would come. _'1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 4, seconds, 5 seconds…how long is this fall gonna take?'_

Confused, he peeked open one eye, and peered through the crack between his forearms. _'Eh?' _He slowly lowered his arms and opened his eyes fully to stare down as his feet. He wasn't falling anymore, but his feet weren't touching the floor or any of the steps.

He was levitating. In mid air. Just above the last three bottom steps of the stairs he had just tripped down.

Slowly, gently, he was lowered down until his feet finally landed securely on the ground. Bystanders and passerbys ooh and ahhed at the miraculous landing, but he ignored all of them. With wide eyes, he looked blindly around himself, for the presence he knew was there.

"…Kuroko?"

* * *

Kagami sat tiredly on the subway bench, leaning back against the white, concrete wall. An unopened Pocari bottle he'd bought from one of the vending machines stood stoically next to him, its cold condensation dripping down like sweat. The red head laid his head again the wall behind him, looking up to the ceiling, before sighing and reaching down to remove the envelope from his back pocket. He slipped the tissue package into his hands, and gently picked up the necklace charm from within.

This time, he didn't hesitate to clasp it around his neck. The wooden charm hung comfortably against his throat next to Tatsuya's ring, and he finally picked up the Pocari bottle, uncapped it, and took a long, thirsty drink.

Beside him, an expressionless blue haired boy sat crosslegged, a somewhat embarrassed look in his eyes.

Kagami finished the drink and wiped his mouth. "Were you the one who made sure I avoided the flowerpot?"

"Yeah."

"You scared away the dogs."

"Yeah."

A brief silence descended upon the two, before Kagami coughed and scratched the back of his head. "…Thanks, I guess. You helped me a lot today."

"…You're welcome."

Another bout of silence began to impede the conversation, before a subway train rushed through the station in a roar. Kagami couldn't help but notice that the only reflection he could see against the shiny windows of the passing train was his.

"Why were you following me?"

Kuroko leaned forward to rest his chin against a hand. "Well, at first I was just annoyed about what you were doing, so I decided to prank and bother you along the way."

'_Geh!'_

"But…well, it didn't seem necessary after a while, considering all the dangerous things that were naturally happening to you today. Somehow I got stuck with the job of making sure you survived this little trip." The blue haired boy frowned. "Your luck today is terrible, did you anger a spirit or something?"

'_Is that counting you?'_

Kuroko uncrossed his legs and stood up to his full height. "Also…well, I suppose I just wanted to say goodbye, even if you couldn't see me." Kagami couldn't see his expression, but he supposed it wouldn't have mattered, the ghost's facial expressions rarely betrayed anything.

Kagami sighed and stood up as well, picking up the half full bottle of Pocari as he did so. He began to walk away, his pace slow and leisurely. "…Let's go."

Kuroko stared at his retreating figure. "Where?"

"Home, of course."

"…Weren't you going to the shrine?"

"…I changed my mind."

A small smile appeared on the ghost's lips, and he quickly floated over to walk alongside the taller teenager.

"…So I thought about it."

"About what?"

Kagami scratched his head. "You were talking about all the things you wanted to do yesterday, right?"

Kuroko simply looked up at him, before frowning in annoyance and floating up to eyelevel with the ridiculously tall teenager in order to relieve his neck of strain.

"I'll be that friend. I'll…help you make those precious memories you wanted, and have fun in this world a little longer, until the time comes when you'll move on."

The blue haired ghost stared at him with what could be considered shock (it was very difficult to tell with Kuroko) before a slight smile appeared on his lips. He held out his left fist towards the redhead.

Kagami stared at it for a second, before he grinned and held out his right fist.

Together, they exchanged the first fist bump of their friendship.

* * *

The blue haired boy quietly observed his new room, turning in a small half circle in curious wonder. From the thin layer of dust covering the furniture, it was clear it hadn't been used in a while, if not ever. The single bed took up a third of the area of the small room, next to it a small bedside table with an old fashioned lamp perched upon it. A walk in closet took up the whole of one wall.

After they had returned home, Kagami had proceeded to cook up a massive meal as he had missed lunch. Kuroko had worried for a bit that he was also cooking for him, which would be a wasted effort since he no longer had a real stomach or digestive system, but then realised that the redhead was planning to eat everything himself.

Sometimes Kagami's bottomless stomach scared him.

After the fascinating if not horrifying display of the redhead's ability to consume about ten times his own weight, Kagami had lead him to this spare room, announcing that from now on, it would be his.

"_Ghost's don't sleep, Kagami-kun"_ he had said. Kagami had simply rolled his eyes and walked out. _"It's not just for sleeping, idiot. It's your room, do whatever you want."_

It was dusty, small, and clearly hadn't been planned for use as an actual bedroom, but…

Kuroko moved to sit down on the bed, before rolling over to lie there, curled on top of the bed sheets. His small hands spread across the soft fabric of the blanket, sometimes phasing slightly through them as his concentration wavered. A faint, secret smile appeared on his lips as he opened them to whisper to himself.

"Home…I'm home."

"_You'll be alone forever. You won't exist to anyone but yourself. You won't belong. Eventually you'll give in to the despair known as loneliness…"_

"You were wrong, you know. I belong." His hand moved to grasp the blanket in a determined fist.

"This is my home now."

* * *

A/N: And thus ends the Introduction Arc. (Btw this was a freaking monster to write. I don't think I've ever written a longer chapter than this one. Let's just say it makes up for the short one last time.) I hope I managed to keep every character in character, but knowing me, I've probably failed. I guess I have to especially apologise about Kuroko, but considering he has no memories and was pretty lonely before meeting Kagami, I do have a good defense. Also I have no idea how horoscopes work and whether friends count as lucky items, and whether Kagami really is a Leo or not (I'm pretty sure….I think) but BLARGH. Btw, I like Dobermans. No hate against them in this chapter.

Next chapter: Kise! I'd like to say shit is about to hit the fan, but probably not.

A/N Attempt 2 (With more seriousness): I guess what I wanted to portray in this chapter is that this isn't a perfect friendship. Good friendships don't always start off as one, sometimes it takes time for two people to grow to understand and respect each other. This chapter is about how their relationship truly begins, not as a single meeting, but as a series of experiences that mould their relations and who they are to each other. So I suppose what I'm trying to say is that despite their declaration, Kagami and Kuroko don't truly become friends in chapter one, but in this chapter.

Well, that's just my opinion on relationships, I'm probably wrong on some of the points. Ahem.

Uhm...review please?


	4. chapter three: imposter

chapter three: imposter

* * *

A/N: Ahahahahahaha. Delay? What delay? This chapter was completely on time. It wasn't late. At all. This was all planned out. Yeah. Uhuh.

…

I'm sorry.

(Btw none of my chapters are ever beta-ed, and I usually write them at night when I'm sleepy. So there will veeeryyy likely be mistakes.)

* * *

_All humans must die_

_Leaving a scar_

_Like a memory_

_-Immortal Rain, Ozaki Kaori_

* * *

Kagami blearily stared at the bathroom mirror as he methodically brushed his teeth. Spitting it out, he rinsed his mouth and splashed water onto his face, trying to wash away sleep with sheer cold. It didn't work. Sighing, he cupped more water into his mouth and began to gargle.

"Ah. Good morning Kagami-kun."

The red haired boy spat out a spray of water and began to choke as he stared in shock at the sudden appearance of the blue haired boy beside him. Kuroko raised an eyebrow at the somewhat disgusting display as the explosion of water and foam flew through him.

"Argh-kah-koff-what are you…I thought I told you not to do that!"

"Greeting you in the morning?"

"SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF ME IN THE BATHROOM!"

Kagami wiped his mouth with the towel and glared at his new flatmate as he strode past him in the corridor. "By the way, didn't you say ghosts don't sleep?"

"Indeed."

"Then what's up with that insane bedhead?"

Kuroko stared up in confusion, trying to catch sight of his hair as they entered Kagami's bedroom. "What bedhead?"

"Your hair! It's- just look in the mirror!" The red-head dragged the ghost by the scruff of the neck to the body length mirror hanging in the bedroom. "It's…huh?"

Kagami stared into the mirror. His reflection stared back in confusion, alone. Blinking, he looked down at his left hand, where Kuroko hung, looking much like a displeased cat.

"Could you put me down now?"

The taller boy complied, his mouth still gaping at the new found knowledge that his flatmate had no reflection.

Kuroko began to try and flatten his hair, with not much success. "It shouldn't be that surprising, Kagami-kun. Isn't it general knowledge that ghosts don't have a reflection?"

Kagami scratched his head, looking intently at the mirror. "It's one thing to think about it, it's another to experience it. There's something unnerving about seeing someone there right in front of you but not appearing the mirror." He blinked. "Wait, does that mean you don't even know what you look like?"

Kuroko finally gave up on his useless quest. "I get the general idea. I know the length and colour of my hair, that my skin is kind of pale, those kinds of things. But…" He reached up to pinch his own cheek. "I've never seen my face."

"Ah…I see." Kagami stared thoughtfully at the blue haired boy. "Well, you have eyes the same colour as your hair, and they're kind of creepy. You're facial expression also never changes, that's creepy as-"

Kagami closed his mouth promptly as he felt Kuroko stare at him, displeasure radiating from his eyes at the somewhat insulting description.

"Ah, what if we take a picture, then you could see yourself, right?"

Kuroko blinked at the suggestion. "That…could work. I've tried it once; though not many people have taken pictures in the park, there was this one couple who did, so I photo-bombed a few they took. Unfortunately I never managed to see the pictures." Kuroko thoughtfully cocked his head. "Come to think of it, they never came back to the park ever again."

Kagami fished for his cellphone in his schoolbag. "Eh…I wonder why…Aha!" He held out the flip-phone victoriously. Pushing a few buttons to get it to the camera setting, he waved his flatmate over. "Come on, a congratulations photo for finding out what you look like for the first time."

Kuroko expression radiated cautious hope. "You sure this will work?"

"Well, we'll never know if we don't try right?"

They leaned close, sporting awkward grins and victory signs. Kagami held the phone away from them and pressed the 'capture' button. "Cheese~"

"Okay, let's see-"

Kuroko looked on in wonder as an indescribable scream left the redhead's mouth as he flung the cell-phone away from him in terror. Sighing, he walked over to the miraculously intact device, concentrating to pick it up from the ground where it had fallen after almost shattering the mirror. He turned to regard his hyperventilating flatmate who was beginning to crawl into a ball. "Seriously, Kagami-kun, you get scared too easy." He flipped open the cellphone. "What could possibly be-"

Kuroko stared at the photo, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight. A grinning Kagami took up half of the photo, sporting half a victory sign; he'd only managed to photograph half of his hand.

The other half of the photo…

Kuroko felt himself execute a miniscule cringe. Next to Kagami was a ghostly black and white apparition, its features vague and not entirely humane. He couldn't make out much, but the murderous grin on the blurred figure was very prominent.

Instantly he deleted it.

Flipping it closed, he sat down with a somewhat depressed look upon his face. "That's…that's not how I look like to others…right?"

Kagami quickly shook his head, having somewhat recovered from his terrifying ordeal. "No way. If you really looked like that I'd definitely be dead by now from fright."

Kuroko flipped the phone back open and stared thoughtfully at the main menu display."…By the way, Kagami-kun."

"Hm?"

"What time does school begin?"

"8:45, why?"

"It's 8:30."

"SHIT!"

* * *

"I want a vanilla shake."

"That's nice."

"Buy me a vanilla shake, Kagami-kun."

"No."

"Please."

The ghost and the boy sat across the somewhat isolated table tucked in the corner of the burger restaurant. A huge stack of hamburgers lay piled like a toppled pyramid on the tray before the red head, who was rapidly gobbling them one at a time like a squirrel.

Kagami sighed, food still in his mouth. "Wh-"

Kuroko looked away in slight disgust, rising to comfortably float crosslegged above his chair. "Please don't speak with food in your mouth. It's disgusting."

The redhead glared, before taking a large swallow. "Why? You can't even eat anyway."

"You bring food and sake for your ancestors, right?"

Kagami glared at him. The ghost boy had surprisingly not followed him to school that morning, instead announcing that he would go explore the rest of the vicinities and find out his new physical limits. Kagami had been returning home exhausted from afternoon practice when he had come across the somewhat frightening view of the dead boy floating in front of Magi burger, staring longingly at the vanilla shake on the menu display. Somehow it had all escalated into them having their (well, his) dinner there. "Are you honestly just going to keep on bothering me until I get you one?"

"That's the plan, yes."

"It's a great plan, except for one minor detail: It isn't going to work." He took another bite off his current hamburger. "Why should I buy something that won't even be eaten?"

"You can eat it afterwards, can't you? "

"No, I refuse."

"Buy me this vanilla shake, Kagami-kun, and I'll get rid of the red marker stain on your bedroom wall."

* * *

*A few minutes later*

Kuroko floated a few centimetres above his chair, a glow of utter bliss somehow radiating from his usual expressionless face, doing nothing but staring transfixed at the tall glass of vanilla shake placed before him.

Kagami aggressively bit into his 12th hamburger. "So? Did you find out anything useful about your new boundaries today?"

The ghost boy cocked his head to the side, still staring surreptitiously at the vanilla shake as he answered the red head. "Well, finding my boundaries _was_ my original plan…"

"You…got distracted, didn't you."

"Indeed." A faint smile appeared on his lips. "I used to think my world was limited to the park…but…it really is big, isn't it? So many different things…so many different people going about their varied lives and experiences...all making up this small part of this city." He reached out to grab his drink, frowning slightly as his hand phased slightly through the glass. "The world is large. I can't imagine it."

Kagami swallowed the last of his 15th burger and took a sip of his soda. "You don't have to. Before you know it, you'll have experienced so much that your world will be larger, brighter and more varied than you'll ever have wanted it to be. I'll guarantee it."

Kuroko stared at him. "…I always thought you were just a basketball idiot, but you sometimes you actually seem cool, Kagami-kun. It's amazing."

"Don't stealth insult me, I'll knock over your vanilla shake."

Kuroko protectively pulled in his precious drink towards him. "By the way, did you manage to get to school on time?" He watched as Kagami flinched, a cold chill seemingly settling on the red-head's shoulders.

"…I guess not."

The taller boy depressingly sipped at his drink, swallowing his 19th burger. "…the coach…_wasn't too happy_ about me getting another detention. "

"Ah…"

"Hmm, that reminds me." The blue chill seemed to instantly leave the red head as excitement took its place. "It looks like our basketball team is having our first practice match with Kaijou!"

"Kaijou?"

"Apparently one of the Generations of Miracles is in their team….uh I forgot his name...Kida Ryousuke?"

"What's the Generation of Miracles?"

"Eh…I don't really know much, but from what the upperclassmen tell me, there was this really strong team in Teihou...Teirou…Tei-something Middle School. The Generation of Miracles apparently were the regulars in that team…ah, that's right. Furihata gave me a magazine that did an article about them a year ago or something." He fished into the school bag lying haphazardly next to his chair, before pulling out a crumpled booklet and handing it to his floating companion.

"Hm…they must've been really strong if they managed to get such a powerful sounding epithet. I doubt they'd call any team the 'Generation of Miracles'." The ghost lazily spun upside-down as he flipped through the pages of magazine. A lone man on a nearby table stared astounded at the booklet levitating by itself before Kagami slammed it down back onto the table from the ghost's hands.

"Ahahahaha! Look at that! It got stuck on a giant cobweb! Wow! Amazing! Ahahaha…" Panicked laughter left Kagami's mouth as he glanced nervously at the other man until he looked back down towards his food, shaking his head in puzzlement.

A breath of relief left the red head, before he reached out to push the floating blue head back onto his chair by his head. A vein popped as he began to whisper angrily at the unrepentant ghost. "I thought I told you not to freaking do any of that stuff when people can see you! How am I going to explain things floating around to them when they see it right in front of their faces!"

"Eh, sorry. I just forgot." Kuroko's tone did not sound sorry at all as he turned a page on the open magazine now less suspiciously lying on the table. "And you got the names wrong, Kagami-kun. It's Kise Ryouta from Teikou Middle."

Kagami leaned back on his chair and took an angry bite off his 20th hamburger as he shrugged. "Eh…I knew it sounded a bit strange as I said it." He looked up to see Kuroko staring intently at the photos on the page before him. "…what's so interesting?"

The shorter boy blinked he turned the page. "Nothing, it's just…nothing really." He looked up, closing the magazine gently. "Only one of them went to Kaijou High, does that mean he split off from the rest? Or, did they decide not to stay together and split off into different schools or something?"

"All I know is from what the upperclassmen and the coach told me, but…" Kagami frowned and chewed thoughtfully on his 15th hamburger. "They all split up into different schools, I think...yeah. They're all probably playing in different teams." A sudden gleam appeared in his eyes. "That means we can face off against each and every one of the members, one on one."

Kuroko stared at him, unimpressed. "That's a…rare opinion. Most people would be worried by the level of their opponents."

Kagami simply grinned. "The match wouldn't be fun unless we had some kind of impossible challenge right? I'm getting excited just thinking about it!" A group of girls sitting at a nearby table stared at him strangely, and he flushed, lowering his voice. "Of course, it wouldn't really be that fun if we lost." A slow grin spread across his face. "That why, we won't."

* * *

"So in the end, you weren't able to sleep a wink last night because you were too excited. What are you, a pre-schooler excited for a field trip?"

Kagami twitched his bloodshot eyes that were ringed with tired black as he trudged past the bus stop to the Kaijou School gates getting ever closer. "Shuddup. You're too loud in the morning."

"It's noon, Kagami-kun. I think you need coffee." Kuroko floated beside him as he walked, his zen expression calm as always. He had come to watch the practice match, 'for support' he said. Judging by the aura of excitement radiating from the expressionless boy, Kagami personally thought he just wanted to watch for his own benefit.

"It's alright, I'll be fine after slapping myself a few times."

"Need help with that?"

"No, it's-"

"No I _insist_."

"…Are you still mad about me accidently spilling your vanilla shake last night?" It had been a tragic affair. It was also the only time he had actually seen an actual expression on the normally blank face. Kagami didn't know if he wanted to see that look of horror and rage again in his lifetime.  
Kuroko didn't reply, instead somehow managing to convey a glare from his blank expression.

"Seriously? You weren't even drinking it! And besides, you haven't even kept to your side of the bargain yet; that red marker stain is still there!" In fact it had looked like it had somehow worsened, the smudge looking bigger and a brighter red. He suspected foul play.

"Bakagami!" Kagami jumped in surprise as the exasperated voice of Hyuuga Junpei in semi-clutch mode rang out behind him. "What are you doing muttering to yourself back there? You're falling behind!" The rest of the team stood behind him, all having paused in their walking to stare somewhat worriedly at their oddly acting teammate.

"Ah…yes!"

A small snicker made him whirl back to face the ghost boy biting his lip to repress another. "Bakagami?"

"Shut up, Kuroko."

"Kagami!"

"I'm coming!"

* * *

"Wow~"

Kagami only stared while Izuki-senpai whistled in appreciation at the large gym complex before them. Kaijou's sport and athletic facilities were nothing like Seirin's, just for the fact that it was larger, more varied, and well….larger.

Riko hmmed as she flipped through her phone while the rest of the team just gaped. "I'll have them send someone over, this place is too large for us to find the court and get there on time."

Hyuuga scratched his head. "I thought Seirin had impressive sports facilities as a new school, but this just takes the cake."

"Well, the energy they put in the sports clubs here is on a different level, I suppose."

"Excuse me!"

The team turned to meet a tall boy in a practice t-shirt and shorts jogging up towards them. "Excuse me, are you from Seirin High?"

Riko deleted her half written message and flipped her phone closed. "Yes, we were supposed to be meeting in the gym courts for our practice match…but…"

The boy let out a relieved smile. "Looks like I've found you at the perfect time. The coach sent me to get you guys. Ah, my name's Kobori Hiroshi, Pleased to meet you."

"Riko Aida. This is Hyuuga Junpei, our captain."

Kagami watched the exchange next to the other first years, who seemed to have crowded around something. Letting out another yawn, he stretched his arms, accidently stumbling into Kawahara behind him. "Ah sorry….wait what are you guys doing?" Looking closely, he realised that the first years were all crouched down in a circle around a ball of fur.

"Ah, we realised this little guy had been following us for some time now. From the looks of it, it's lost so we're trying to the owner's details on its collar."

'_Little guy? Collar?' _Kagami stiffened as he began to realise what that little, white with black spots, wiggling ball of fur exactly was.

It was a puppy. A small, adorable puppy.

It was also (in Kagami's eyes) frickin terrifying.

Kuroko blinked in surprise as a screaming Kagami suddenly grabbed him and flung him between the trembling red-head and the puppy innocently wagging its tail. "Kagami-kun, what are you-" Kagami simply flinched when he realised the puppy has established eye contact with him, and had begun trotting its way towards him, tail wagging happily.

A silent scream leapt out his mouth as a cold chill settled on his shoulders.

Kuroko suddenly felt himself being shoved forwards by the no longer properly functioning red-head, towards the small puppy. His feet had tripped over themselves somehow, and he found himself stumbling past the adorable pet and towards one of the first years watching Kagami's somewhat hilarious reaction. Expecting to phase through and fall to the ground, he raised his arms to protect his face.

'_Hm?'_

Kuroko blinked. There was no impact. He hadn't fallen. "Huh?" And his voice was different…

* * *

Izuki stared at the panicking Kagami crouched in the corner, muttering unintelligible gibberings to himself as he covered his ears with his shaking hands, pretending the cute dog was not indeed a few centimetres behind him, panting excitedly and happily wagging its tail. Riko beside him twitched, the scary shine she got in her eyes whenever she saw something adorable beginning to manifest.

"Hm…you know…it's like that…right?"

Hyuuga beside him nodded, the same look of dull surprise and vague discouragement that adorned the self-proclaimed pun-master's face on his own. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"I mean, when we first saw him, he seemed pretty cool, right?"

"Yeah, but now…." Placing their initial impression of the red head and his current situation side by side, there was a jarring difference.

"I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU KNOW!" Said red head hurriedly ducked back into his protective crouch after his angry outburst. Hyuuga sighed, whilst Izuki bit his lip to stop his incoming snort of laughter.

"He's shaking like a new-born Bambi. Oh deer."

"Izuki, shut up."

"Ah! Lala-chan!" Kobori rushed in to grab and cradle in his arms the terrorizing puppy. "I'm very sorry, she wasn't supposed to be wandering the school grounds alone like this."

"Lala-chan?"

"She's the tennis club's mascot, but most of the people involved in sports in this school know her. I'm so sorry, the tennis club usually manages her, I don't know why she's alone here."

"Ah…um…could you…please…take her…away?" Kagami's uncharacteristically frail voice whispered from his stiff shell of a body.

"Oh, yes, of course. I hope you don't mind me returning her to the tennis club members whilst on our way to the game."

Riko smiled. "No, it's alright. Lead the way."

The team began to follow. Koganei and Mitobe looked back at the still stationary Kagami. "You coming?"

"I'll…come later…at a 30 metre radius from the dog."

They looked at each other, before the cat-like senior shrugged at his silent companion. "Don't be late to the match though, okay? Hyuuga and the coach will get scary if you do."

"Scary?"

Kagami froze as Hyuuga suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere to clasp his shoulder, his entire body wreathed in a terrifying fear miasma. His voice was barely louder than a whisper. "_Come late, Kagami, and I'll show you the true meaning of hell_."

The red-head felt his chill worsen. "…..yes."

* * *

"Kagami-kun?"

The red-head whipped his head up and jumped up from his crouch in surprise. He had been in the middle of counting to 60, waiting for the approximate moment when the member of the species that served as the bane of his existence would finally be a safe distance from him (30 metres at the closest). It had been so quiet that he'd thought he had been alone. _'I can't believe I forgot about Kuroko, maybe it's because he's a ghost, but sometimes it feels as if he has no presence. And why does his voice sound so weird?'_

"Jeez, don't interrupt me while I'm recovering from canine trauma, Kuro-" He froze as he finally turned to face the speaker.

A somewhat expressionless Furihata stared nonchalantly back at him.

"….ro…ro…roooooeallly nice weather today, isn't it, Furihata? Ahahahaha…." Kagami's smile was strained and almost painful to maintain as he awkwardly scratched his head. "I thought you'd left with the rest of the team." _'Crap, please don't ask who I'd thought you were.'_

"Um…Kagami-kun, it's me."

"Huh? Yeah, I know it's you, Furihata."

"No…it's me….Kuroko."

Kagami blinked. Slowly, his eyes and mouth began to widen with delayed shock, before he snapped out of it to yell hoarsely.

"WHAT?!"

The Furihata-Kuroko body-consciousness combination….thing….winced and covered his ears from the outburst. "How many times do I have to say this until your brain can finally understand this concept? I am Kuroko."

"You can…what…you never told me you could possess bodies! Moreover, what about Furihata! What did you do to him!"

Kuroko shrugged. "I'm confused too. This has never happened before, possessing bodies. It's very strange." He turned in a half circle, inspecting his new body. "The ground looks really far from here…I'm kind of jealous."

"Why would height even matter to you? You can fly! And answer me, I'm getting nervous for Furihata."

"He's probably alright…" Kuroko closed his eyes. "I can still sense him…but his consciousness seems…quiet. Maybe he's sleeping?"

'_More like you forcefully knocked him out.' _"So he'll be fine once you get out of his body, right?"

"…About that…"

'_Huh?'_

Kuroko shrugged, a look of helplessness almost there on his face. "I can't seem to leave."

"Eh?"  
"I've never been able to possess bodies before, no naturally I have no idea how to leave. Every time I try I get pulled back…it's kind of the same sensation as when I try to go further than my boundaries."

Kagami blinked. "But then…why are you able to do it now?"

The boy possessing ghost thoughtfully cocked his head. "I was thinking about it, maybe it's because you pushed me?"

"…I did?"

"I believe you were attempting to use me as a human shield against your worst nightmare. It was nice to see how much you care for me, Kagami-kun."

"Ahahaha….sorry."

"It must be the power of that flounder charm, I beginning to believe."

Kagami frowned and pulled it out of his shirt to inspect it. The lacquered wood innocently glinted in the sunlight, and the flounder grinned its stoned smile as always. _'Ugh…I forgot how ugly it was.'_ He stared intently at it, Kuroko coming to stand by his shoulder to do the same. "Makes you speculate about what other wonders it can do…is it even okay for me to carry around this mysterious thing we know nothing about?"

"Definitely. Don't ever get rid of it, or I'll paint your bedroom walls in red marker, Kagami-kun."

"Hey!"

Kuroko ignored him. "But to be honest…having a physical body…it's really…" He didn't finish his sentence, and instead closed his eyes and raised his arms, feeling with his whole body the gentle breeze that washed over them.

"…I didn't know the human body could feel like this." He breathed in. "I didn't know the world smelled so much. All these sensations…"

Kagami's demand to try and find a way to remove him from Furihata's body died in his throat, and he looked somewhat sadly at the ghost quietly reacquainting himself with his two lost senses. _'Sometimes I forget, but this guy is dead. He's lost his physical body and his memories, and yet still tries to enjoy what remains of his world.' _A sad smile found its way onto his lips. _'But in the end…even after learning more about the world and enjoying it...' _

Kagami looked away to stare at the ground. _'He'll disappear, as if nothing had happened.'_

'_This is a friendship without a future.'_

* * *

"I can't believe we actually made it on time. I honestly thought we were going to die by the captain's hand." Kagami leaned against the gym wall with one hand, pausing to catch his breath. Quickly he began to make his way to the rest of the team waiting on one of the benches on the side of the basketball court, dragging his ghostly friend with him by the scruff of the neck.

Kuroko's breathing was erractic as he irritably shook the red-head's hand off and stumbled along beside him. "…I..can't…breathe."

"Eh? What! Why?! Furihata's body should be athletic enough for this run to have been easy!"

"…I'm…not used to…having to breathe…it was…hard…adjusting breath…for…running."

"…at this rate you might actually kill Furihata. Please be careful with that body."

"I…take…back…what I said…about….physical bodies…help me get out…Kagami-kun."

"We don't even know how. Besides, the match is about to start, no can do. Just wait until the match is over, jeez, we'll try to find a way then."

They reached the bench, where the team was beginning to stretch and get ready for the match. Fukuda and Kawahara looked up as they approached. "Ah, there you were, Furihata! We were wondering where you'd gone off to."

"Yeah, we were sure you were right behind us until we actually looked back…"

Kuroko by now had somehow returned to a calmer breathing pattern. "Ah…yes…hello."

Fukuda frowned. "You okay, Furihata? You sound weird…and you look kind of different."

"Yeah, your facial expression looks really blank."

Kagami decided it was time to change the topic. "Ahahaha…uh…where's the captain and coach? I don't see them around."

Kawahara shrugged. "Kaijou apparently decided we were small fry and so opted to have our practice match on a half-court. They're with the other team's coach, being angry at him- I mean, trying to argue for full court."

"Yeah, it also looks like the famed Kise Ryouta won't even be in the match." He pointed to one of the benches on the other side of the gym, where a tall, blond boy sat, clearly not in a basketball uniform but in a t-shirt and shorts. Even from the other side of the court, Kagami could tell he was attractive, if not from his looks then from the crowd of girls on the upper benches, cheering for and fawning over their 'beloved Kise-san'. He seemed to be a happy person, judging by the cheery smile on his face, even as an another shorter, black haired student dressed in the number four basketball uniform kicked him irritably. Kagami guessed, from the angry gesturing, that he was annoyed at the fangirls and the reason for their appearance massaging his kicked back in front of him. _'Seriously, he's not even going to play? Those bastards are looking down on us.'_

Kuroko beside him seemed to be entranced by the Kaijou prodigy. He stared without blinking, an aura of inquisitiveness and ….something else…about him.

Kagami shook his shoulder, startling the ghost out of whatever had held him. "What, is this your first time seeing a relatively famous person?"

"No…it's just…" Kuroko frowned as he looked on in the blonde's general direction. "Don't you think there's something….wrong about his smile?"

"Huh?"

"No, it's nothing." He finally looked away from the blonde to watch the verbal argument between the two teams' coaches, Hyuuga's hand on Riko's shoulder in some kind of moral support. "It looks like we're heavily being looked down upon, for them to not even bother with full court." Looking closer, he realised that the captain's action was actually for the purpose of inconspicuously restraining her from jumping and attacking the other coach.

Kagami tched, before an uncharacteristically devious smile began to grow on his lips. "Well, if that's the case, we just have to show them we're serious, don't we?"

* * *

"You do realise you're going to have to pay for the backboard you broke."

Kagami flinched at the thought of the fees involved. "Hey! I got us our full court! And thanks to me they got rid of their annoying arrogant attitude. Besides, how is it my fault the backboard was old and weak?!"

Kuroko shrugged. "You're still going to have to pay for it."

The red head dropped his head in defeat. "…Don't depress me before a game."

"Oi! Kagami, Furihata! The coach wants a talk before the match begins! Get over here!"

"Ah, yes!" Kagami quickly turned to the (still) shorter Kuroko. "Okay, luckily no-one appears to have really noticed yeah, but make sure no one even suspects you of not being Furihata, got it? Act like him."

"But I'm not familiar enough to know about his habits and how he normally acts, Kagami-kun."

"Just don't be yourself. That'll probably work."

"Huh?"

"No monotonous talking, and put an expression on that face." Kuroko winced as the red-head stretched his cheeks to force a smile on him.

"Oi! Get over here before I drag you here!" Hyuuga was slowly getting impatient, and the miasma that had comfortably cloaked him earlier seemed to slowly be returning.

"Yes!" Kagami called back. Kuroko grabbed onto his arm before he walked off. "What if Furihata-kun gets called onto the court to play?"

Kagami didn't stop walking, and simply dragged the shorter teen along with him as he did. "He probably won't, it's more likely that the senior members will be called in to sub. But, even if he is, you'd be able to play, right?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, the first time I found you, you were playing basketball in the abandoned court. You're like a basketball ghost. You're at least skilled enough to play in a game right?"

Kuroko beside him fell silent, before a hesitant reply left his lips.

"…Yes…I suppose."

* * *

Koganei flailed in the air as he quickly passed the ball back into the court before he stepped backwards. Sticking his left foot back to steady himself, he froze as he felt it slip on the floor.

'_Oh. Shit.'_

*BANG* *CRASH*

Riko winced in sympathy as the cat-like boy tripped over the bench and fell backwards onto the floor, managing to hit the back of his head with a concerningly large sound. She signalled to the referee, and his whistle soon sounded its shrill call, signalling a temporary pause in the match.

Quickly making her way to the fallen second year, she pulled out the first-aid kit. "You alright? Koga…ah." He was unconscious. She suspected he had managed to knock himself out as he hit his head. Kneeling down to examine the swelling bump on the back of the boy's head, she turned to the two first years looking over worryingly behind her. "Fukuda, Kawahara. He's probably fine, but we can't be too sure. He'll most likely wake up in a few minutes, when he does, see if you can help him to the nurse's office to get that checked out."

"Ah...roger that."

She turned to the remaining two occupants of the bench, the ever calm and easygoing Tsuchida, and a strangely blank faced Furihata. _'What's with the strong feeling of zen between those two?'_

The score was 22-15, with Kaijou in the lead. The first quarter hadn't even finished yet, and yet already there had been 37 points scored. _'I might have expected something like this in a match between two teams which specialise in offense, but even so, this game is too fast paced.' _She turned to look over the players still on the court. _'At this rate we'll get too tired before we even reach mid-game. And the point difference between us…it's getting wider.'_

Sighing, she scratched the back of her head. _'We need to slow the pace down. Focus more on defence.' _Her eyes glanced to Kagami. He had exceeded her initial evaluation on his ability, managing to go one on one with the Kaijou's ace and one of the Generation of Miracles, Kise Ryouta. _'Even so, this won't last.' _Her eyes narrowed. _'I'm getting the feeling they're just warming up. That Kise Ryouta…his ability to copy other's techniques and make them his own is troublesome.'_

'_We're in big trouble, aren't we?' _A sudden smile appeared on her lips as she turned to Furihata. "You're up, first year."

The boy blinked and slowly pointed to himself. "…Me?"

She nodded. "It's your debut, Furihata. Get ready." _'Right now we need someone to slow down the pace. This might be his first game ever, but I'm confident he'll be reliable at times like these.' _

"Ah…yes."

* * *

Kagami wiped his forehead as he watched the figure of Furihata Kouki calmly get up from the bench and walk onto the court. _'Kuroko's being subbed in?'_

He paused at that thought.

'…_It'll be okay, right? He likes basketball so much that he remembers it from when he was alive. He's been playing by himself ever since he was dead in that abandoned courtyard. He's probably really good at it, right? Look at him, radiating confidence somehow with that expressionless face. It'll be okay, right?'_

The red-head shook away the thoughts of doubt as the whistle blew, signalling the beginning of the third quarter. _'He'll be fine, just leave him to it.'_

* * *

*5 minutes later*

Kagami looked on in numb horror as Kise stole the ball from a mildly surprised Kuroko. Shaking his head, he rushed in to intercept, only for the blond to dodge him and Mitobe to jump towards the basket, performing another of his slam dunks.

This had been the sixth time in the last five minutes where the Kuroko possessed Furihata had gotten the ball stolen from him as he dribbled.

It was like watching a car crash you couldn't stop.

'_Why? Why is this happening? Why is Kuroko so bad at this? He's a basketball ghost that haunted the abandoned court, there's no way he should be this bad! He looked like such a pro! I don't understand!'_

"Time! Seirin requesting Player Switch!"

The red head wiped his forehead and looked surreptitiously at the scoreboard as he made his way to the bench. _'The score difference between us is increasing…as this rate it'll be difficult to close it up before the game ends.'_

"I should've noticed this sooner, but are you alright, Furihata-kun?" A concerned Riko forced Kuroko down onto the bench. "This can't be attributed to nerves, your playing's worsened dramatically, and your body movements seem strange, not to mention the fact that your breathing is erratic. Even your facial muscles seem to have weakened. You should've told me if you were sick or felt weak!"

'_Ah…his movements seem strange because he's not used to being in this body, he still hasn't gotten the hand of adjusting his breathing….and Kuroko's facial expressions are always like that.'_

Kuroko simply blinked, trying to recover his breath. "Ah…I'm…sorry…coach…"

Riko shook her head. "No, it's fine. Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"No…I…think…I'll be…fine…after…a few…minutes."

Mitobe silently handed the poor boy a towel and water bottle as Riko considered their new situation. "Tsuchida, you're in."

"Yes."

She turned to the rest of the group. "Slow down the pace. Focus on strengthening the centre, and stopping the goals more than making our own. And you!" Kagami flinched as she suddenly pointed to him. "Don't get goaded into one on ones with Kise! I want you to help with defence, got it?"

"But-"

A sudden cold chill blew into the gym as the beginnings of a dark miasma seemed to form around the older girl. _"Got it?"_

'_How do she and the captain even do it?' _Kagami gulped."…yes."

* * *

"Isn't it time to admit it?"

Kagami wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt as Kise landed down firmly on his feet from his latest slam dunk. "What?"

The blond boy turned to face him, an uncharacteristically hard look on his usually cheerful face. "As you are right now, it's ten years too early for you to challenge the Generation of Miracles." He looked directly into the red-head's eyes. "I'll acknowledge your potential, but you're still no match for me. No matter what kind of technique you use, as long as I see it, I'll pay it back twice as much immediately."

'_In the face of hardship, there are two kinds of people, Kise-kun. Those who give up during the way, and those who-'_

"No matter how much you struggle, you can't win against me. Well…" A somewhat pained smile seemed to form on the blonde's lips. "…just remember that reality isn't such a sweet thing."

'_Which of the two kinds of people are you, Kise-kun?'_

The red-head was silent, his neck tilted down to look at the floor. His bangs hid his expression. Kise began to turn away from the defeated boy, before a soft chuckle reached his ears. Startled, he turned back, to see Kagami holding his stomach, letting out a happy, refreshed laugh.

"I'm sorry, but…ahahaha…I'm just a bit happy."

"Eh?"

The red-head wiped his tears. "It's been a while since someone's said that to me. Really, I'm a bit embarrassed to come back to Japan with this kind of mind-set. After all, life is about challenges. Without strong opponents, it wouldn't be fun." He finally straightened to grin at the stunned blonde, a determined and challenging look in his eyes. "It's perfect if I can't win."

Kise stared at him blankly, before a somewhat hesitant smile found its way to his lips. "I see."

"That guy was right."

"Huh?" Kise blinked, surprised at the sudden non-sequitur.

"Your smile, something's wrong with it. After all…" Kagami scrunched his eyes in thought as he passed by the blonde back to his side of the court.

"I've never seen a guy with a brilliant smile have such sad eyes."

* * *

Ever since he had been called out onto the court to sub, Kuroko had felt something within him change.

He didn't know what it was. All he knew was that there was this sensation of something deep within him beginning to rise. The deep sunken 'something' within the dark pool of memories was slowly, carefully, emerging. It was heavy and dense, and fought to pass through the viscous fluid which had kept it sunken all those unknown months.

And yet, as he lay watching the one on one against the Kaijou's ace Kise and Kagami, he felt it finally surface.

"…Coach, I have a request."

"Hm? What is it, Furihata?" Riko seemed to snap herself out of the intense analytical observation of the match, concern apparent in her face as she turned to face him. "Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"Ah, no." Kuroko slowly sat up from his reclining position and stretched his arms. "Please sub me back in."

Riko's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh?"

He turned to face her head on, his gaze sincere and serious. "I…I've got the hang of it now. Those five minutes in which I failed the team…I will make it up to them."

She stared at him then, noticing every detail on the boy. His uncharacteristically expressionless face somehow conveying determination and sincerity, the way his hands fiddled with his wrists, as if playing with wristbands that weren't there, the way his legs seemed poised to jump up to run onto the court.

The way his eyes shone with barely hidden excitement.

Riko made a decision then, a risky bet that would normally never be taken. She narrowed her eyes at the somewhat…changed Furihata. "Can you guarantee those words?"

The boy nodded, and stood resolutely. "Yes."

Riko nodded back, before turning back onto the court. "Seirin, time! Requesting a Player Switch!"

The whistle blew. A somewhat confused Tsuchida jogged towards the bench to tag on Kuroko who had begun walking onto the court.

The female coach watched him go, a just revived and confused Koganei beside her. "…you really believe in him, Coach?"

"Hm…I don't really know."

"_Eh?!_"

A slow smile began to spread on her lips. "Call this…woman's intuition? After all," She raised her voice. "You'll succeed, won't you?"

The Kuroko possessed Furihata raised an arm to give a small wave, a hidden smile on his lips. "Of course, after all…" He brought it back down to adjust a non-existent wristband.

"I've remembered my basketball."

* * *

Kasamatsu looked on in confusion as Seirin no. 12 re-entered the court. _'What are they thinking? I thought they'd learned from the last time he was on court that this newbie is a disaster.' _He glanced at the Seirin's female coach. _'What made her decide to put him back in?'_

The whistle sounded again, and the Kaijou team captain shook off the puzzled thoughts. _'We'll just have to teach them again that we're not a nice enough team to babysit their newbies.'_

* * *

Kagami was full of worry. '_Why did the coach put him back in? This guy can't even adjust his own breathing!'_

"Kagami!"

The red head pulled away from those thoughts as he caught the pass and began dribbling towards the goal, dodging and pushing past the defending Kaijou players. He slowed down as Kise rushed forward to mark him, eyes coldly blank as they watched his every move.

'_I can't get past him. One wrong move and he'll steal it.' _Kagami's eye darted wildly as he searched for a free teammate to pass it to. _'At this rate, I'll be forced into a one on one…' _A blur of light brown hair appeared in his peripheral hindsight; it was Kuroko.

'…_One on one, or Kuroko?' _It was a difficult decision, one as risky as the other, but… _'Coach can't put have put him back in without a good reason. I'll take a chance.'_

Kise looked somewhat surprised as Kagami backed off from the challenge to pass to the body possessing ghost, and then…

Kagami blinked. _'What?'_

A startled Hyuuga caught the ball, and instantly performed one of his three pointers. The whistle sounded as the scoreboard went up by three to Seirin, but the occupants of gyms, whether they were players or observers, all stayed in stunned silence.

"It's…it's in?"

"How did he get that pass through just now?!"

'_I passed to Kuroko, not the captain, and yet…how? I didn't see what happened.' _Kagami stared at the ghost nonchalantly adjusting his uniform. From the way he wasn't looking like he about to collapse any minute, the red-head guessed that he had finally managed to learn how to adjust his breathing. _'I didn't see what happened, even though it was right before my eyes. What happened?'_

* * *

'_What the….where did that ball come from?'_

The Kaijou team captain stared at the Seirin team's no. 12 shirt, who was currently having his back clapped upon by his ecstatic if not somewhat confused team-mates. '_That kid…what did he do?" _

"…just now….that was…."

He turned to the team's ace beside him, concerned at the blonde's uncharacteristically stuttering voice. "…Kise?" He froze at what he saw.

* * *

Kasamatsu remembered the first time he met Kise Ryouta as clear as day. The other basketball team members had been either staring in shock or admiration at the famous member of the Generation of Miracles as the coach introduced him to the Kaijou team. The blond himself had just confidently stood there with a large, friendly smile on his cheery face.

Everything went fine, everything was normal.

But Kasamatsu could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Kise quickly became well-liked by near everyone. A model, an ace basketball player, and just overall a really friendly guy, it wasn't entirely surprising. Though he oozed with confidence in both his looks and basketball skills, there was no ugly arrogance in his cheerful personality.

But Kasamatsu didn't like the new ace's carefree smiles and friendly laughs. Something was wrong. Kise unnerved him for reasons he didn't understand. _Something was wrong._

It took a while for him to realise what exactly it was, but when he did, it never left him.

Kise was crying.

His mask was perfect, flawless. No one other than him seemed to see that it wasn't his real face, and there were times when Kasamatsu himself doubted his own judgement. It never cracked, it never faltered. Like a motionless dam, it flawlessly hid the pain behind smiles and laughter.

Which was why Kasamatsu found himself staring in open shock as Kise's mask suddenly shattered completely with just one word uttered from his lips.

"Misdirection."

* * *

"I just remembered."

Takao turned the regard his eccentric green haired friend leaning forward on his desk, gazing blankly out the classroom window. Lowering the juice box that had been halfway to his mouth, he raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I had a friend in middle school who wanted to go to Seirin." A slight frown appeared on Midorima's brow, slightly dislodging the spiral glasses (his lucky item for the day) perched on his head.

Takao leaned back on his chair. "Seirin…ah, you mean the school that's having its practice match with Kaijou? I didn't think you'd be interested in these kinds of things, Shin-chan." Midorima didn't respond, and just continued to stare intently at the flower buds of the tree outside the classroom. Takao finished off his juicebox. "So…did he go in the end?"

"…No…"

The conversation was trivial and inane, but the raven haired point guard felt it essential to participate in any conversations his green-haired friend began, simply for the fact they were rare. Very rare. "Eh~ What made him change his mind?"

"He didn't."

Takao frowned in confusion as Midorima finally stopped his intense staring match with the outside world and turned to stare down at his bandaged fingers.

"He couldn't go in the end."

"Uh…why?"

The green haired boy paused. "No…never mind, it's nothing."

'_He went somewhere, too far for us to reach.'_

* * *

_She lay as cold as ice._

_The forgotten apple gone forever._

* * *

A/N: If you read chapter two, Kagami already witnesses how Kuroko has no reflection via the windows of a passing subway train. He forgot. Because he's an idiot. (casually denying continuity problems.) Also I apologise if the basketball rules here look wrong, my knowledge of basketball is only from Kuroko no Basuke.

And so this chapter I reveal to you that this story isn't just a Supernatural/Friendship genre. I couldn't fit them all in, but it's also Tragedy (because well, one of the characters is dead -_-) and Mystery. Because, pfft, I'm not gonna just easily tell you exactly what happened to Kuroko. And maybe Horror. I don't know. Also, I'm sorry about my terrible sense of humour which tends to be at the expense of Kagami.

* * *

Chapter 4 preview:

"Ah, that reminds me. There was something else Coach Riko told us about the Generation of Miracles that I forgot to mention."

"Hm?"

Kagami scratched the back of his head. "Well…I dunno, but it appears that one of them quit basketball after entering high school. He hasn't entered the team. Aho…ahomine…I think it was?"

"No matter how much a parent may dislike their own child, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't hate him so much they would name him 'idiot'."


	5. interlude: like a blanket covers a child

interlude: like a blanket covers a child

A/N: My long chapter spree has run out, it seems. Here, have a short one. By that I mean a really, really short one. I suppose it's not even really a chapter, more of an interlude. Sorry about that. Not really.

* * *

"Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out."

-Old Man the Timekeeper.

* * *

_The worst thing, he supposed, was passage of time. Or rather, lack of. _

_He would watch as business women rushed through the woods, clutching their morning coffee tightly as they ran as fast as their heels would allow them to catch the underground trains. Children skipped by from school to play carelessly in the park playground until finally splitting up to return home. Couples and friends lounged about on the benches, eating lunch together as they chatted, laughed, and in the case of the former, occasionally kissed._

_There was a routine, he would later realise in detached curiosity. Morning, Noon, Afternoon, Evening. Nothing changed. It was like watching a play again and again on a broken record, the actors reprising their roles, never tiring of their constant lines and stage directions. _

_He hated it. He wanted to scream at the people going through their stupid routines. He wanted to shake some sense into them, break them out of their constant routines. Break __them__. _

_He never did. He didn't want to face his inability to interact with them. Observe, observe, for that's the only thing you can do. Observe, and pretend that this is what you want. Besides, he wasn't a shouting kind of person. Had he been one when he was alive? He didn't think so. _

_Time, time, and look at all the little humans going about through their routines, spending time as if it was a currency._

_Ah, but what good was time for him? His time was endless, for it had already run out. While the people ran about on their routines, saving seconds and coveting the hours, he sat still just watching them, safe in his strange dichotomy of having all the time in the world and yet none. Maybe that was why it was difficult for him to measure time – there was no clock in the park. No routines, nothing to chime the hours, and only the slow rise of the dawn to announce a new day. _

_He didn't keep count. There was no point. Time meant nothing to him._

_And yet he hated it. He hated, hated with a coldness that gripped his being. Let me out, he wanted to cry, Let me out of this prison of time. _

_Letmeoutletmeoutletmeoutletm eout-_

_Sometimes he wonders if he's going mad._

_He wonders and wonders, and sometimes then he dreams. He doesn't know how that happens, when he doesn't even sleep, but somehow he manages._

_It's always the same dream._

_The lake's always there, the inky black depths of the still water motionless. The grass is soft and cool where he stands barefoot on the edge of the bank. The morning is cool and misty, covered in silent fog. All is silent; there's no sound, not even the whispering breaths of passive breathing._

_He never feels calm though. There's something charged in the air, fear? Anger? _

_Hatred?_

_He turns to stare at the hooded figure sitting beside him, gently reeling in the bait of his fishing pole cast into the lake. Despite the movement, there are no ripples in the black, viscous liquid._

_He hears himself speak. "I don't want to die." It's always the same phrase. He can't control his words, his actions. _

_The figure pauses in his reeling, and turns to gaze up at him with empty eye sockets dripping black fluid. A stranger. "I know."_

_And like the rest of the dream, the end is always the same._

_He drowns._

* * *

"…rihata? Furihata?"

"Furihata! Calm down! Wake up!"

Furihata woke up to a pounding beat in his ears and a familiar voice murmuring in alarm. Someone seemed to be gasping for breath in the room, sobbing uncontrollably. The boy squinted against the too bright light, blearily searching for the source of sound. A concerned face stared back, and it took him a few moments of confusion to register the wetness of his eyes and the burn of his lungs.

The one in the room sobbing was him and him alone.

Riko leaned forward to clasp a small, warm hand on his shaking shoulders. "You alright?" Her voice was quiet, almost muted in the strange, dreamlike glow of the afternoon sun. The brunette realised he was in the nurse's room.

It took a while to find his voice again. He breathes in, ready to reassure his coach, ready to explain.

But all that leaves his lips is a scream.

* * *

'_And so alone in the black water, I died.'_

* * *

Kuroko knows in his few waking seconds even before he opens his eyes that he's no longer in the body of Furihata. It's not the lack of olfactory and tactile senses that alert him, nor his ethereal chest moving inwards and outwards for a while before ceasing as it realises his body no longer needs to breathe. It's not even the fact he's floating horizontally above what he will later realise is the roof of the Kaijou school gym.

It's the return of _It_.

He doesn't know what it is, but it's always there. The inky black, rippling _thing_ borders his peripheral vision like a picture frame from hell. Sometimes he sees it, sometimes he doesn't, but it's always _there._

Madness, he calls it. It was named for irony and boredom, but now he wonders. Furihata had given him a clarity of mind he hadn't experienced since the beginning of his days. He wonders if physical bodies chase it away, keep it away, keep him _safe._

He's not safe now, not any longer. It's back. Once again he has to hide it, keep it under wraps, make sure Kagami doesn't see, doesn't suspect. He'd lost control with the red marker, but it won't happen again.

He wonders if it's getting bigger, or whether it's just his imagination.

Most of all, he wonders if he's going mad. _Are you mad? I'm not mad. Don't let him see. Don't let him see it._

The ghost squinted at the blue sky, before swinging himself upright. Already he misses it, the feel of the breeze against his skin, the scent of the autumn leaves and the dusty gravel of the road. Once again, his world is empty.

He wonders if ghosts can cry.

* * *

A/N: What. I told you it'd be short. Next chapter has more answers I guess. :P


	6. chapter four: we are all asleep

chapter 4: we are all asleep

* * *

A/N: SO. HEY. HOW'S IT GOING GUYS. AHAHAHA WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I UPDATED THIS, YESTERDAY RIGHT? Because obviously I update this regularly and without huge ass breaks in between.

...

Yeah, I'm sorry.

I thought I might as well explain about the interlude. No, it wasn't a real chapter, more like an insight into Kuroko's point of view. Yes, the narrative was probably confusing in the first part, I was attempting to convey lack of perception of time and general deteriorating mental stability. Did it work? Lol probably not, BUT I TRIED AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS AHAHAHAHAHA….yeah I'll stop.

* * *

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul. - Oscar Wilde

* * *

Kagami collapsed onto the gym bench with a groan, his legs feeling like trembling jelly. The rest of the team lay in various states in exhaustion around him, either on the benches or in Koganei's case, lying face down on the floor. Kagami glanced up to the scoreboard as he reached for a water bottle, and grimaced.

Kajiou had won in the end, 98 - 87.

Kuroko's sudden comeback had been a gamechanger, in a sense, instantly changing the flow of the game. He'd found himself in a cooperation play with the body possessing ghost before he'd realised it, the ball exchanged between them through the Kaijou team members as easily as water. Not even the famous Kise seemed to have been able to stop them initially, though…

Kagami frowned as he searched the other team's bench for the blonde, but found himself unable to locate him. Shrugging, he turned back to his thoughts. Kise had been strangely sluggish throughout the time Kuroko had been on the court, though Kagami couldn't really guess why other than the unorthodox techniques shocking him. Considering the blonde's personality, it didn't really seem to fit.

Whatever the case, he'd managed to snap himself out of it in the 3rd quarter and began demonstrating exactly why he was one of the Generation of Miracles, putting pressure back onto the court. It had reached a point to which even his team-play with Kuroko couldn't easily break past him.

And then…well.

An accidental swing of an arm on Kise's part and Kuroko's natural lack of presence (now applied to Furihata's body) resulted in an unconscious Kuroko/Furihata, whom Riko had, with the help of the first years, carted off to somewhere whilst the game continued. Kise had seemed somewhat distressed about it (which Kagami couldn't really understand – it was just an accident after all), but it reflected nothing on his playing.

It all went downhill from there.

Kagami blinked. Losses didn't really bother him much, it just meant he needed to practice and train more. But the more pressing matter was….

The red-head tsked. During the mid-game break he'd needed to rush to the toilet, and had then returned to a furious full-team discussion on tactics. He had had no time at all to talk with Kuroko in private and find out what on earth was going on and what the hell he was doing on the court.

'_Seriously, I'd never seen anything like that before. And really Kuroko, though I really do appreciate the awesome advantage you gave to our team, what are we going to do when you leave Furihata's body? He can't do what you just did back there! What could we possibly explain to everyone?'_

Sighing, he leaned forward to rest his hands on his knees. _'I am totally not going to handle this by myself. Kuroko, seriously, you better clean up the messes you've made yourself!'_

* * *

Kise could hear nothing but his pounding heartbeat as he strode through the school corridors. The match had just ended a few minutes ago, but he had taken no notice of the confused calls of his teammates as he left the court to the school main building, instead of heading to the locker rooms along with the rest of them. It wasn't that he had ignored them, more like he couldn't hear them over the buzz of his mind, full of silent whispers and screams of 'what', 'how' and 'why'.

His strides quickened. Walking soon lead to jogging, running, sprinting, but he ignored the burn of his lungs and ache of his legs, still not rested from the game.

'_That skill, it was his. It was his alone. No-one else could manage it. No-one else could have done -no, no, he must've taught it to him.'_

He spotted the door of the nurse's office as he turned into the corridor, slowing down to a loping jog. It was slightly ajar, letting out a sliver of the afternoon sun.

'_He must have met him somehow, before….before. Maybe he'd found potential in him and decided to teach him it, maybe the guy begged to be taught, maybe…'_

He paused in front of the door, hand still outstretched to pull it open. _'Why do I care? What does it matter? Whether he taught it to him, how this guy knows his skill, what does it matter anymore?' _He dropped his hand, his teeth beginning to worry his lower lip. _'It wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't change how he's…'_

He backed away from the door, one slow step at a time. The sound of low murmurings of a female voice could be heard from the room, followed by a sudden gasp reminiscent of one just waking up from a nightmare. Kise forced himself to ignore them, had to physically restrain himself from leaping into the room. Slowly, he turned away. His feet felt like lead, his heart heavier, but he didn't stop moving past the door and along the rest of the corridor.

'_It wouldn't change how he's dead.'_

His eyes burned as something began to prick at the edges. _'It wouldn't bring back all we've lost. It wouldn't wake-'_

A sudden scream from inside the room rang out in the empty corridor, laced with terror and hurt. The lead in his feet dispersed like clouds, and Kise could not, would not, stop himself from running back.

* * *

Kagami paused at the entrance of the gym. He'd rushed to wipe the sweat from the game away and throw his training jacket and pants on, but the pungent smell of sweat still lingered. Hyuuga grimaced as he passed by, but he was no better, so did not comment. "What are you doing?"

"Ah... I was hurrying to see Furihata….so…"

Hyuuga raised an eyebrow. "Riko's tending to him in the nurse's office in the main building, if you wanted to know where he was. I wasn't aware you guys were such close friends though."

The red head laughed nervously. "Ahahaha…what are you saying captain? We're in the same class, of course we're friends!"

"Bakagami, Furihata's in class 1-2, while you're in 1-3. Well, that's how it's written on the application forms you guys handed to us."

"Eh? Really? We're not in the same class?"

Hyuuga pinched the skin between his eyebrows. "Sometimes I don't know why I bother," he muttered, "If you make a right turn where the path splits from here, you'll get to the main building eventually. From there I'm pretty sure there are signs leading to the nurse's office."

"Ah…thank you!" Kagami made a half wave as he rushed out of the building, already beginning to sprint despite the fatigue already gained from the game in his legs. Hyuuga simply shrugged and returned to the locker rooms, a wry smile on his lips.

* * *

Kise froze in the doorway as he took in the scene before him. Seirin's coach grasped the brunette's shoulders as he shook uncontrollably in the bed, his eyes glazed and blank as he began to hyperventilate. His skin was unhealthily pale and clammy, and Kise could see from the doorway that the boy was not all here.

The female coach turned to him as he entered the room, a desperately pleading look in her eyes. _'Help me!'_

Kise acted impulsively and without much critical thinking involved. Moving quickly forwards, he took hold of the boy's shaking hands and covered them with his own.

"It's 4:15pm." His voice was calm and warm, without a hint of the panic Kise was currently experiencing. "You're in the nurse's office in Kaijou High, Kanagawa. Your name is…"

Seirin's female coach took his offered cue. "Furihata Kouki. Your name is Furihata Kouki. Are you alright?"

Furihata's breathing slowed as the two continued their meaningless inputs in peaceful, pacifying tones. Eventually his shaking stilled and life seemed to return to his eyes.

"…Coach?" His voice cracked as if just waking from a deep sleep.

She look into his eyes, concerned. "Are you alright, Furihata?"

"Uh…yeah I guess. I…sorry about that just now."

"It's nothing. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No….other than a massive headache, not really."

She got to her feet. "I'll go get you some painkillers for that. Stay here and rest, Furihata."

"Roger."

Kise followed her out of the room, mostly because he had no idea what he was supposed to do otherwise. The female coach turned to him as they left the room, an impressed look in her eyes as she evaluated him. "That was impressive, what you did just there."

He smiled awkwardly. "It's just something I copied some time ago…to tell the truth I was freaking out there."

She raised an eyebrow, but to his relief, did not pursue the topic. Glancing back at the doorway of the nurse's room, she sighed. "Unfortunately it seems the nurse locked all the cabinets after she left, I'll have to get back to my first aid kit in the gym for the pain relief pills for his headache. I know it's too much to ask, but could you keep an eye on him until I get back?"

Kise let cheer fill his expression with practiced ease. "No problem!"

* * *

Furihata seemed more or less back to his normal self by the time Kise returned to the room, other than a flush of embarrassment reddening the tips of his ears. He greeted the blonde with a clumsy grin. "Aha…sorry you had to see that, Kise-san."

Kise met it with one of his dazzling smiles. "It's no problem. Nightmares are nothing to laugh at, after all," His smile slipped faintly, "they tend to reflect our most terrifying fears."

Furihata missed the tiny change in his expression, his eyes frozen on his still trembling fingers which fiddled with the sheets on the bed. His next comment was quiet, almost audible that Kise had to lean forward to hear them. "It wasn't anything I'd experienced before. I don't usually have nightmares but…I know that this one was different."

"It felt…too real to be a dream."

Kise knew that he should steer the conversation away from the topic of dreams in case Furihata suffered another attack. He knew and yet…

"Do you remember what it was about?"

The other boy clenched his hands into fists and leaned back against the headboard of the bed to stare blankly into the ceiling. "I'm beginning to forget it but…" He narrowed his eyes as if trying to recall long lost memories.

"I was…dying."

Kise felt his eyes widen.

"Alone in the black water, unable to hear, see, feel anything…I drowned."

'_Alone in the- I couldn't-scream-no one could-I was-dying.'_

'_Help me. Save me.'_

"Kise-san?" _'Kise-kun?'_

A large flinch shuddered through the blonde as a concerned hand on his shoulder snapped him back to the present. Blinking, he turned to the only other occupant of the room.

Furihata gave him an unsteady smile. "Maybe it's best we steer away from the topic of nightmares, eh?"

Kise stared at him uncertainly, before returning it in full force with all the speed and glamour only a model could achieve. "Yeah, that sounds best."

The brunette removed his hand and self-consciously scratched the back of his head. "I kind of forgot to ask you this, but where did coach go?"

"Ah, to retrieve pain-killers from her first-aid kit in the gym."

"The gym? Where am I?"

"This is the nurse's office in the main building. You worried everyone when you passed out in the 3rd quarter."

"…3rd quarter?"

Kise frowned. "Um…of our game? We had a practice game between our teams that just finished a few minutes ago."

Furihata just stared at him, his expression frozen on his face. His voice seemed to shake as he spoke again. "Uh…something's been bothering me ever since I noticed the sunlight in the room but…what time is it right now?"

The blonde glanced around the room for a clock, only to find none. "I'm not sure exactly, but it's around 4:30?"

"Um…the last thing I remember is…walking with my team to Kaijou's gym…to have that practice match. It was….3:10…the last time I checked."

'_Eh?'_

"So you….you don't remember our match?" _'Well, I did hit his head but…I'm pretty sure it wasn't hard enough to erase memories…was it?'_

"Sorry, I don't really remember anything during the past hour, it seems."

'…_I really hope Seirin doesn't kill me for this.' _"Ahahahaha…I am really, really sorry…"

"Huh?"

Kise grinned apologetically. "During the 3rd quarter I accidently hit you on the head…I'm kind of the reason why you're here and everything. I came here to apologise profusely but then….well you don't remember anything now so this is a bit awkward."

"Eh, it's no problem. This is probably nothing."

Kise narrowed his eyes. _'I wasn't sure until now but, looking closer there's not even a bruise or wound on this guy's head. I didn't hit him hard enough to knock this guy out, or to cause memory loss. Whatever the cause was, I'm sure it wasn't all me.'_

"That said, you should probably check a doctor after this, don't you think?"

Furihata blinked at him. "Uh…I guess?"

"It would be a very, very good idea to."

The brunette seemed a bit cowed at the force of his suggestion. "…Ok."

An awkward silence descended upon the room. Furihata returned to fiddling with the bedsheets, his hands having stopped trembling minutes ago. His face was no longer sickly pale, colour and cheer returning to bloom in his cheeks. Kise cleared his throat, the question he had debated on asking or not finally rising to his lips.

"Actually, there was another reason I came here."

"Hm?"

The blonde turned to him, his easy smile slipping off his face to be replaced by a serious gaze. "In that game, you used a technique I've only ever seen used by another person. Can you tell me how you gained it?"

Furihata gaped at him. "Huh?"

Kise frowned. "You probably wouldn't remember using it in the game, but you should still remember learning and training that technique. Misdirection. Who taught it to you?"

"Mis…what? Kise-san, I really don't understand what you're talking about."

_"Don't fuck with me."_ Furihata froze as a sudden chill seemed to blow through the room. Kise's fringe obscured his eyes as he glared frighteningly at the other boy, his hands clenched into fists with his arms tense at his sides. He had drawn himself up to his full height at the end of the bed. "That technique, did Kurokocchi teach it to you? Did you learn it from him? How did you know him? How did you learn it from it? Why….what are you trying to hide?"

"Kise…san?"

"Tell me. You have to tell me. Why-"

"Don't you think that's enough?"

Kise froze as a restraining hand landed on his shoulder. Turning his head, his face was coldly expressionless as he met fiery red eyes with his own golden ones. Kagami stood his ground. The two were chillingly silent, before Kise turned back to the concerned Furihata with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that, Furihata-san, I guess that was rude of me." He swivelled on his heels to step towards the door, casually brushing off the red-head's hand off his shoulder as he did so. "I…I need to get back to my team now so, bye."

Kagami felt a vein pop in his forehead as the blonde left the room. "Oi!"

"I think it's best to let him go, Kagami-kun," The redhead spun to face Furihata in surprise. "It looks like he needs to cool his head or something right now."

"Really? Because it looked like he was being a bastard right now."

The brunette shrugged. "He was getting worked up about something. I don't really understand what it was though. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

Kagami frowned. "What do you mean, 'what am I doing here?'. Obviously I'm here to make sure you're alright. By the way, what WAS that in that game? That was…seriously what the hell? I mean I knew you were a basketball gho-"

He froze. Furihata looked up at him, a look of total confusion and incomprehension on his face. Expressions. On his face.

'_Shit. This isn't Kuroko.'_

"…go…go….goalie?"

The brunette just stared. "…What."

"ANYWAY. How…how are you feeling?"

"No, what the hell Kagami-kun. What were you saying before?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. I don't know. I lost track of the conversation. I don't know what I'm saying anymore. I'm a basketball idiot who knows nothing except basketball. I don't even know the quadratic equation. How are you feeling Furihata?"  
"Uh….ok?"

Kagami honestly had no idea what he was saying anymore. "'Ok ok'? Or 'not really Ok but just saying you're ok because you don't really know what else to say' Ok."

"…Well I've been better but I feel fine mostly. I don't have any headaches anymore if that's what you're asking…but…"

"But?"

Furihata sighed and lay back against the headboard with a wry smile. "Well it seems I've lost memories of the last hour or so and therefore I don't really remember anything about the match everyone's talking about."

'_Godammit Kuroko. Now you've made everything ridiculously complicated for everyone.' _"Hah. Hahaha. Uh. Funny that. It's probably nothing, you're fine."

Furihata clearly did not believe him. "..Really, because Kise-san just told me I should probably get to the doctor, implying this may be serious."

"Tchh, it's not like he's an expert. Things like that have happened to me all the time and I'm ok."

"….might explain why you're a basketball idiot."

"Oi. What was that."

"Nothing!"

Kagami sighed as he glanced at the open door of the nurse's office, swaying slightly in the warm breeze drafting in from the open window. "So, what was that Kise guy being angry at you for anyway?"

Furihata nervously scratched behind his right ear. "To be honest I have no idea. He was asking me about some kind of technique I was using in the match…except I have no memory of every using or learning it before so…really I have no idea what he was talking about."

Kagami narrowed his eyes. _'Was he that intrigued or surprised at what Kuroko was doing in the court? I suppose it was almost like magic, what he was doing, but it shouldn't have elicited such a strong response. What the hell?'_

"Also…"

Kagami blinked as he pulled himself out of his thoughts to glance back at Furihata. The brunette seemed to be biting his thumb thoughtfully. "No…he knew what it was. He was calling it…Misdirection? He was asking me if someone called….Kuro….kocchi? He was asking me if someone called Kurokocchi has taught me it or something. But seriously, I really don't know what people are talk-"

Kagami stopped listening to him, lost in his own thoughts. _'He knew what it was? He'd seen it before? A technique like that isn't seen everyday, to be sure. He was asking if someone had taught Furihata. Kurokocchi…..kurokocchi….kuro….'_

The redhead stilled as his eyes widened in revelation._ 'Kuroko? Kuroko Tetsuya?' _

Furihata stopped his raging tirade in surprise as Kagami violently opened his gym bag to swiftly fish out the magazine he'd lent him yesterday.

"Uh…Kagami, what are you doing?"

The redhead ignored him as he hurriedly flipped through the pages, before seemingly giving up in frustration. "Furihata! Where are the pages on Teikou Middle?!"

"Um, 19 and 20 I think. They're near the centre."

Kagami flipped through the pages again, this time with a slower, more precise handling, before finally finding the double spread special article on the 'Generation of Miracles.' His eyes darted the across the page frantically, searching with the desperation of a thirsty man until…

'_There it is.'_

It wasn't the main focus of the picture, but Kagami did not care. The photographer had been taking a shot of a purple-headed giant playing centre in a practice game, but at the corner, a dark haired figure stood at the edge of the court, watching the game.

The image was small, and a bit blurred but Kagami knew exactly what he was looking at. The figure was wearing the same uniform Kuroko wore everyday. The school uniform of Teikou Middle High.

"Oi! Kagami! What's going on!"

Kagami almost tripped over his feet as he tried to shove everything back into his bag and run out of the room towards the corridor at the same time. "Uh. Sorry Furihata! I'll tell you later!" He waved half-heartedly as he sprinted out of the room.

"Hey! HEY! BAKAGAMI! OI!"

* * *

'_Kise knows Kuroko. Ok so that might not be true. Kise MIGHT know Kuroko. Have known Kuroko. Knew Kuroko before he…yeah.'_

Kagami slowed down his sprinting, his legs beginning to feel the burn and tiredness from the practice match. To top it off, his stomach decided then to growl plaintively. _'Seriously, what will chasing down Kise accomplish? What will I even say to him? What if he doesn't even know Kuroko? I could be basing all of this on coincidence, and I'm sure there are other school uniforms that look similar to Teikou's. Even if they were from the same school it doesn't guarantee they ever even met. I don't even know WHEN Kuroko died, it could've been way before Kise's generation.'_

His pace slowed to a crawl, until stopping completely. _'I don't even know if 'Kurokocchi' is really Kuroko. It's his surname – and it's not like it's particularly rare._

_This could be nothing. This could be absolutely nothing.'_

He stared through one of the hallway windows, at the gently dancing branches of the autumn trees. It reminded him of the sad way Kuroko had embraced the wind in Furihata's body, experiencing touch for the first time.

'_Tch.' _Kagami clenched his fists and began to jog, quickly accelerating into another sprint as he raced into the entrance hall and out of the main building. He began to make his way back to the gym.

'_It could be nothing, but I have to try. I have to check. I'd be a crappy friend if I couldn't even do that.'_ His lungs began to burn, but he ignored it. _'Kise could hold the answers to everything. He could know Kuroko's past. He could return all those lost memories.'_

Finally, he caught sight of a mop of blonde hair, its owner slowly trudging towards the gym. Kagami forced himself to accelerate.

'_I have to at least try.'_

"OI! KISEEEE-GAH?!"

Kagami felt his breath leave his lungs as something barrelled into him with the force of a rampaging bull. Landing heavily on his back into a hedge, he looked around dazed for his attacker, only to get an eyeful of light blue.

"Kuroko? What are you-mmmfff"

The ghost made something reminiscent of a displeased frown and proceeded to shove a hand against the red-head's mouth as he raised the other to press a finger against his own lips. Kagami just gaped in incomprehension, but he made no sound and stayed still under Kuroko's impossibly heavy weight, so it worked just as well. Glimpsing a stray leg, the blue-haired boy kicked it closer into the thorny bushes to completely conceal the red-head, much to said red-head's muffled indignation. Kuroko ignored him and glanced up to see a confused blonde scanning his surroundings for whoever had called out to him, before shrugging his shoulders and continuing his progress to the gym.

It was only until he was definitely out of earshot that the ghost relinquished his hold on the other boy.

Kagami immediately swiped at him, which Kuroko avoided with ease as he floated out of reach. "What the hell was that for?!" He struggled to his feet, nearly tripping over himself as he untangled himself from the brambles and shrubs of the hedge. "I swear I'm gonna have so many bruises from this…" The red-head irritably picked at some leaves and twigs that had attached themselves to his hair.

Kuroko watched his pointless struggle with his trademark blank expression, though with a mulish tint in his eyes. "You were about to call out to Kise-san…about me."

Kagami stared at him. "Eh? How did you know?"

"I can read minds."

"What! Pssshh I know that isn't true, you told me it wasn't."

"It was worth a try. I overheard your conversation with Furihata-san in the nurse's office."

"And?" Kagami finally admitted defeat and abandoned his attempts, straightening up to his full height to stare down at the short boy with an abundant supply of twigs and flowers in his hair. Kuroko seemed to frown and floated higher to Kagami's eye level. "Why did you stop me?"

The ghost finally broke eye-contact to gaze at the small tornadoes of red leaves blowing about in the autumn wind on the school pathways. "I don't know if Kise-san knew me in the past. I don't know if we were ever friends, but…" He turned to glare obstinately back at Kagami. "I don't want to know. I don't want you to know either."

Kagami was stunned. "But…why? Don't you want to know? About your past, how you lived, how you died? Don't you want to know about your friends, your family?"

Kuroko seemed to flinch at the last comment, but it was miniscule to the point that Kagami wondered whether he'd imagined it. His next words were uncharacteristically cold in tone. "I don't remember ever mentioning to you that I wanted to find out about my past, but I'll make it clear right now. My past is nothing to me. I don't need nor want to know anything about it, and I'd appreciate it if you'd leave it alone."

Kagami stared at him, speechless. He almost took a step back, before standing his ground angrily. "Maybe YOU don't want to know, but you can't dictate what I want to know. And THIS is what I want to know." He turned to make his way towards the gym, not sparing a glance at the ghost. "Fine, you can spend the rest of your goddamn existence not knowing anything, but I'm gonna find out, and you can't stop me."

He gasped as he was knocked down to the ground for the second time, a familiar ridiculously heavy weight settling onto his back with an arm wrapping around his neck in an equally familiar chokehold. Kuroko's voice behind him attempted to be calm as always, but he could not hide the streak of desperation in his tone. "Promise me, Kagami-kun, that you'll never find out. You can't know. I won't let you."

"No! Geh- Get off me!"

"Promise me!"

"Or what? You'll levitate things and graffiti the school walls? You'll destroy my property? It looks like you can do anything with these powers of yours! Maybe even goddamn kill me!"

The pressure instantly lifted from his back and neck, and Kagami spun around on his knees to face the ghost, his hands massaging his sore neck. He blinked and froze at the sight before him.

Kuroko stared at him in uncharacteristic horror, his hands before him as if he could not understand their existence. His mouth moved but no sound emerged as his entire body seemed to shudder.

"No…no…I…_I wouldn't._"

"Kuroko?" Kagami stepped towards him.

"I wouldn't!" Kuroko backed away, floating higher and higher away from the approaching red-head. Suddenly he stopped, and glanced fearfully at his hands.

"I wouldn't…would I?"

"Kuroko!"

Kagami reached towards him, but his hands grasped only air as the ghost vanished into nothing.

* * *

Kise stared at the cellphone in his hand thoughtfully. Leaning against the gym lockers in his school uniform with a towel carefully thrown around his shoulders, he sighed and gently banged his head against the blue metal behind him. He was the only one left in the locker rooms, Kasamatsu-senpai having thrown him the keys and allowing him to stay behind with an uncharacteristically concerned look.

Sometimes senpai seemed really perceptive, and he wondered whether he could see everything behind his carefully arranged mask.

He didn't know how to feel about that.

Blowing lips in a raspberry, he finally flipped the phone open to dial in a familiar number, and raised it to his head. He smiled exasperatedly as an obnoxiously cheery tune met his ears before it clicked.

"Hm? Hi Ki-chan! It's rare for you to call~ How are you doing?"

Kise smiled, even knowing there was no way for the recipient to see it. "Hi Momoiichi! Eh~ What do you mean it's rare for me to call? I send you beautiful and elegant texts all the time!"

"Ki-chan~ They're mostly photos you took of strange things at school with 'lolololol' as the caption."

Kise faked sobbing. "I thought you loved them…"

"There, there Ki-chan, I'm sure you'll eventually meet someone with the same kind of crappy humour you have!"

"So mean!"

The conversation filtered into a brief comfortable silence, both parties gently smiling with a sadness only they could know.

"So, why'd you call me, Ki-chan?"

"Eh...I kind of feel bad about doing this, but I called to ask a favour."

"Hm~ If it's to do with Touou Academy, you know I can't help you Ki-chan."

"Of course not~ I was just wondering if you could do background checks on some people for me."

"Eh? Having some trouble with people at your modelling work, Ki-chan? Do you need some dirty info on them?"

Kise blanched, and put a whine into his voice. "No, of course not! What kind of person do you think I am, Momoiichi!"

"I wouldn't judge or blame you if you did ask, Ki-chan. I would be perfectly happy to do so~"

'_Uwah….sometimes Momoiichi scares me. I'm really glad she's my friend and not an enemy.' _"It's not like that, Momoiichi. It's just…I need to find out some things about some people."

"I guess you wouldn't tell me even if I asked why, would you~"

Kise smiled apologetically. "Sorry Momoiichi. But if what I suspect is true, you'd find out anyway."

"True~ What are their names?"

"Furihata Kouki….and…" Kise bit his lip thoughtfully as his eyes narrowed. _'That play in that practice match between that Furihata kid and the other guy…it almost reminded me of…of…them. They must've practiced at least a little to have gotten that kind of cooperation play.'_

"…Kagami Taiga. Furihata Kouki and Kagami Taiga of Seirin High. Could you please look into them, Momoiichi?"

"Sure thing, Ki-chan~ Ah, I gotta go visit Dai-chan now, cya later, ok?"

"Thanks, Momoiichi~"

He flipped the phone closed and sighed as he leaned his head back against the blue lockers again. Suddenly he banged his head backwards, harder this time as he gritted his teeth in frustration. Moisture gathered in his eyes and he curled into a ball, leaning his now throbbing head on his knees as he hid his face in the empty room.

"…what…am I doing?"

* * *

_And so she ran_

_Ran until she could not stop_

_Her red cloak streaming behind her like blood_

* * *

A/N:

Ok so the preview thing I said I would put in this chapter wasn't actually in it. I was going to do a massive chapter like the last two and therefore put it in here but…

So yeah. Maybe I'm screwing up my own continuity. I dunno.

And yes, the verses at the end of each chapter are indeed connected; join them up together and they make the full poem. Quite a number of chapters need to finished before you can read it entirely though. So that means you'll probably have to wait a year or two considering how slowly this seems to be updating AHAHAHAHA.

Please don't hurt me.

P.S: Review please!


End file.
